End of the Circle
by MizJoely
Summary: The 7th Doctor and Ace stumble upon a gap in his memory involving his granddaughter, Susan, but investigating brings them face to face with both an unexpected member of the Doctor's family, and an enemy from the past...
1. Violence & Introspection

**Prologue - Paris, France**

She was not easy to kill. It took a long time for the last of her regenerations to come to an end, longer than he'd anticipated. Much longer. The boy had come back, had seen his mother's face contorted in agony, seen the blood of ten regenerations spread across the bedroom. Had seen his mother's murderer standing by the window, eyeing his handiwork with academic interest. Had seen all that, taken it in, and run, all before the killer could do more than meet the boy's stunned, accusative eyes and smile. He was fast, the killer would have to grant him that.

But not so fast that he couldn't be found. Sooner or later, he would be found.

Found, and destroyed in much the same manner as his mother.

The Master looked down and brushed a strand of dark hair away from his victim's unseeing eyes in a curiously tender gesture. "Sweet Romana," he murmured. "I did so hate to do this to you. But it was the only way; Time Lords are exceedingly difficult to kill. You gave me no choice when you refused to tell me what I wanted to know." He smiled. "And you've given the Doctor yet another reason to come look for me. Well done."

**Somewhere in Space**

It was a nice, quiet little planet, the young woman known as "Ace" had to admit; very pretty with its rivers and forests and complete lack of life either intelligent or dangerous. Very nice, very quiet–and _very_ boring.

When the Doctor announced that he needed a rest, she'd taken him at his word, but secretly believed they'd end up somewhere else, hip-deep in some crisis or other. When they had actually materialized where the Doctor wanted to go, she'd been surprised, but then assumed that something was going to threaten either them or this place.

So much for secret beliefs. Peace and calm had never appealed to her except during the middle of being shot at or captured, when she longed for it with all her soul. When it had actually been achieved, she conveniently managed to forget this fact and longed instead for action.

It didn't help that the Doctor had been in a funny sort of mood lately, reminiscing about this adventure or that, talking about past companions, some of whom he had almost never mentioned in all the years they had been together--nearly five, Ace realized. Longer than most of his other companions had lasted, from what she'd gleaned from the TARDIS database and his own, less-reliable reminiscences. Five years, and in all that time, the Doctor had never returned to visit any of the people he mentioned so fondly. Not even the ones on Earth. It wasn't as if they never spent any time on Ace's home planet, either; sometimes it seemed as if that was the only place they visited!

Unfortunately, whenever they did attempt a simple visit, there ended up being some kind of world-threatening disaster they had to prevent that left the two of them too busy to think beyond the next moment. And when everything was over–including the shouting–they somehow managed to take off for the next calamity without remembering the original reason for the visit until it was far too late.

Now, it seemed that all that procrastinating was taking its toll, at least on the Doctor's subconscious. He'd taken to absentmindedly calling her Sarah Jane, or Leela or Tegan; every now and then it would be Victoria or Nyssa, and once it was Romana. He'd clammed up after _that_ one, though; the Time Lady was one of the few companions he hardly ever spoke about, and when he did it was in an abrupt, irritated tone that could have been due to any of a half-dozen reasons, up to and including the fact that she'd basically abandoned him to stay in E-Space. Which Ace saw as mere poetic justice, considering the amount of companions he did the same thing to. Not abandoning them in E-Space, of course, just sort of leaving them and trotting off to the next available disaster.

She'd tried teasing him back into a good mood, calling him "Professor" for his absentmindedness, but his only reaction was to growl irritably that he didn't call her Dorothy, did he, and stalk off in offended silence.

_That_ had certainly shut her up, especially since she hadn't realized he knew her real name. She would've sworn Mel hadn't told. But she had more than that to worry about. The Doctor's reaction–or rather, over-reaction–to her innocent teasing puzzled her, a puzzlement that only deepened when they finally plunked down on a planet in the middle of galactic nowhere and simply sat for nearly a week.

Ace had had enough. Enough of his moodiness and the everlasting, _boring_ peacefulness of this place. It might be an Eden, she decided as she looked around the terrain with a critical eye, but it was an Eden sorely need in of a snake and an apple to liven things up. Especially since the Doctor had gone so far as to flatly forbid her to get in any target practice, even with a marvelous sand-pit nearby to soak up the explosions. With this irritable thought, Ace walked, then trotted, then finally broke into a run for the nearby river. Her irritation had blossomed into full-fledged fury, and she felt the need for physical exercise to work it off. When she reached the bank of the shallow, muddy-yellow river, she quickly stripped off her sneakers, jeans and t-shirt, and dove in.

As she headed for the opposite shore, Ace fumed silently over the Doctor's moodiness. By the time she actually reached the far shore, however, her fury had abated as she reached the conclusion that it wasn't really the moodiness that was bothering her; it was the as-yet unrevealed _source_ of that moodiness. Ace _hated_ not knowing what was going on.

The Doctor was standing on the bank as she reached the shore. Her clothes, which she had left helter-skelter on the grass, were now folded in a neat pile by his feet, the toe of one sneaker just peeking from beneath her jeans. The Doctor was holding a towel in one hand and had the other hidden behind his back. "Haven't you forgotten something?" he asked mildly, bringing the hidden hand forward. It held her bathing suit.

Ace blushed crimson. She was still shoulder-deep in the murky water, but it felt like no cover at all for her underwear-clad form. "Well, I can't bloody well put it on now, can I?"

The Doctor blinked. "No, I don't suppose you can," he agreed. He looked around, then spied a bush growing over the water's edge. He walked up, threw the towel over it, and placed the bathing suit and her clothes on the ground before retreating to the opposite side. "There!" he called merrily once he was out of sight. "Modesty is preserved!"

Ace shook her head in exasperation, then grinned in spite of herself. It was only a matter of moments before she had scrambled out of the water, donned the suit, and pulled the towel down to dry her hair. The straight brown tresses reached nearly to her waist now, she noted absently before singing out: "I'm decent!" She spread the now-damp towel on the grass and threw herself belly-down on top of it.

The Doctor walked back around the bush and slowly settled on the ground next to her. They sat in comfortable silence, their first in days, simply enjoying each other's company and the afternoon sunshine of an alien world. Ace's bad mood had completely evaporated and she caught herself wondering just what she'd been so upset about in the first place. _Moodiness_, she reminded herself, but was unable to dredge up her previous irritation. She shrugged mentally. _Just as well._

When the Doctor finally broke the silence, it was with a completely unexpected question. "How old are you now, Ace?"

"Five years older than I was when we first hooked up," she replied after a moment spent shifting mental gears; she'd more than half-expected the Doctor's first words to be some sort of oblique apology for his moodiness. "Why?"

"Has it been that long?" the Doctor asked in surprise, completely ignoring her last question. Ace nodded. "My! How time flies!" He turned reflective. "I'm almost 900 years older than you are. You see a lot in 900 years..." His voice trailed off.

Ace's expression turned sour. "Cor! You're not going to take another trip down memory lane, are you? It wouldn't be half so bad," she grumbled, "if you'd just get to the bloody point when you do!"

The Doctor had all his breath ready for an indignant response; Ace could actually _see_ it trembling on his lips. He surprised her again by turning it into a rueful laugh. "I suppose I have been wandering that road quite a bit lately, haven't I," he responded with a shake of his head. "I don't really even know _why_; it's just that--" he groped for the proper words "--every now and then, my past seems to catch me up all at once, and I can't shake it loose."

Ace nodded sagely, although she had only the barest glimmering of what he meant; as he'd pointed out, she had far less past to catch her up than he did. She was more comfortable dealing with the here and now, no matter when or where that happened to be, and it had always seemed to her that he felt the same way. "What do you usually do when that happens?" she asked, intrigued by this rare glimpse into emotions the Doctor usually kept hidden away.

"Find some trouble to stick my nose into," came the prompt--and surprisingly honest--reply. It was a day full of revelation for the Doctor's young companion; she was used to more evasiveness from the Gallifreyan regarding his feelings, and wasted no time in telling him so. The Doctor laughed out loud at her tart observation. "Yes, well, it gets to be a bit of a habit after a while, being mysterious. 'Keep 'em guessing' has been my motto for several lifetimes."

"So why change now?" Ace asked curiously, rolling on her side and leaning her head on one hand as she stared up at him.

The Doctor frowned and shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it's just time for some new habits. What do you think?"

"If you want my approval, you've got it," came the prompt reply. She sat up with a grimace. "It gets tough, sometimes, knocking about with someone who has all the answers and won't tell." When the Doctor opened his mouth to object, she quickly amended: "All right, someone who _seems_ to have all the answers, then."

The Doctor grunted, whether in irritation or amusement, Ace wasn't sure. Another moment passed in silence before he spoke again. "Did I ever mention that I have a granddaughter?"

Ace had thought she was getting used to the Doctor's lightning-quick subject changes on this most unusual of afternoons, but this one threw her completely for a loop. She struggled unsuccessfully not to show how staggered she was by this revelation as she asked with elaborate casualness, "Oh? Son or daughter?"

It was the Doctor's turn to be thrown off by an apparent non-sequitur, Ace noted with secret glee; this time _he_ was the one groping for the thread of thought she had followed. "Now there's something I haven't thought about in a long time," he murmured, his eyes narrowing as he gazed into the unseen distance of his own past. A tiny smile tugged at his lips. "I left Susan–my granddaughter–on Earth, to settle down with that boy…David, that was his name. Ian and Barbara were with us then," he continued, his voice edged with a faint note of disapproval. "Susan _would_ insist on going to school on Earth..."

"What happened to her parents?" Ace interrupted. Fascinating though the snippets of information the Doctor was giving her might be, he still hadn't answered her first question.

"Well, they–I mean, of course they–" A frown appeared on the Doctor's face as he struggled with his uncooperative memory, searching for a face or a name to answer Ace's question. "This can't be possible," he exclaimed, sitting up in dismay.

"What is it, Doctor?" Ace asked.

He didn't seem to hear her question, or even notice her presence as he jumped to his feet and began to pace back and forth, brow furrowed in thought. "I don't believe this! I just assumed the memory was there, that I simply hadn't bothered to take it out and look at it. There were always plenty of other things on my mind," he added, as if that were some kind of explanation.

"Doctor, I don't have a _clue_ as to what you're going on about," Ace complained. "Is this one of those things you're going to explain to me eventually, or just another one of those times when I'll never be told what's _really_ happening?" Her voice rose resentfully at the end of the question.

The Doctor blinked in mild surprise. "Do I do that?" he finally asked, momentarily distracted by the vehemence in Ace's voice. She nodded. "I gather I do it...rather frequently?" Another emphatic nod. The Doctor quirked an eyebrow, then turned to gaze out over the placid waters of the river. Ace recognized his "thoughtful face" and settled back on her elbows and waited. She wasn't by nature a patient person, but five years of traveling with the Doctor had forced it upon her.

She was rewarded for that carefully cultivated patience far sooner than she anticipated. The Doctor sat back down on his haunches and rested his arms on his knees. "Another bad habit I seem to have fallen into," he mused. "It would appear that I have more of those than I thought." He sighed. "As for what I'm going on about this time, I've just realized that I don't know who Susan's parents are. I don't even remember," his voice caught slightly, "if I have a son or a daughter; what's worse, I don't even know who _that_ child's mother might be. Nor do I remember how she came to live with me on the TARDIS."

Ace's forehead wrinkled in a frown. "How is that possible?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know. It's as if those memories don't exist, as if they've been...erased."

Ace fought the chill that went over her. "You mean like from regenerative trauma?" she suggested, groping for a possibility she could understand.

The Doctor's expression remained troubled. "I suppose it could be that, but I doubt it. I never could resist meddling with my own past; at some point I must have realized there was a rather significant portion missing. I mean, it isn't the same as chucking memories about planets I've visited, is it? One doesn't just discard memories of one's own family."

"Well, there were times I wanted to ditch any memories of my past," Ace said, pulling a face. "D'you think it's because you have bad memories, that you were willing to let them go?"

"They'd have to be pretty awful, if I did," the Doctor pointed out. "It just doesn't seem like me–any of 'me'–to do such a thing. Of course," he interrupted himself, "it could have been a decision I made when I still had Susan, or right after she left me. Perhaps I thought it was for the best." He still sounded doubtful.

"Well, there's one way to find out," Ace said. The Doctor raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Go talk to yourself."

"It's a rather trivial reason to break one of the highest laws of the Time Lords," the Doctor replied drily, but Ace could tell he was thinking about it.

"Having an important part of your past erased is trivial?" she countered, raising her own eyebrow before jumping to her feet and swooping her belongings up into a careless bundle. "I wouldn't say that. Besides, you didn't regenerate that first time on Gallifrey, did you?" The Doctor shook his head. "All right, then, what's the prob? Just zip on over to see you after you 'retired' but before you regenerated, and ask yourself what the deal is. Maybe this memory thing just happened recently," she added encouragingly. "If it did, then your first you should be able to help this you." A sudden thought struck her. "Or maybe you should talk to Susan, see what _she_ remembers."

The Doctor came to his feet, absently handing Ace one of her socks. "Perhaps that isn't such a bad idea," he murmured, turning and heading up the path. Ace drew up next to him. "I'll have to think about it." In spite of the warning tone of his voice, Ace could tell by his eyes that he'd already made up his mind. She felt her heart speed up, although she tried not to show her excitement. Finally, something to do, something to break the boredom. A new adventure.

The two of them entered the TARDIS and shut the door behind them. Minutes later, the time machine was gone, leaving no trace that anyone had ever been there except a flattened spot in the middle of a clearing, and a lone sneaker, lying forlornly on the bank of the river where it had been forgotten.

_Author's Note: This is an alternate universe story to a certain extent, as it offers an alternative origin for Susan Foreman-Campbell than the novels do (and, as you can see from above, kills off a certain character who in the novels becomes the President of Gallifrey). I do not generally make use of the novels as I have read very few of them, and so consider only the TV series (and the Fox Dr. Who movie featuring the 8th Doctor) as canon. Although the ending of the story appears to place this even more firmly into an alternate universe, just remember that things are not always what they seem in the Whoniverse. Enjoy!_


	2. Romana's Legacy

**Earth**

Gallifrey was a frustrating dead-end. The Time Lords either didn't know where the Doctor was or wouldn't tell him. All they'd done was demand to know where and who he was and how he'd got access to a classified frequency. Even when he told them it was an emergency, all he got was more yelling. Typical bureaucracy, just as his mother had warned him it would be. That was one of the reasons she'd hesitated to return to her home planet, even after being sent back from E-Space by their friends to do just that.

The other reason had everything to do with him. He carried an enormous weight of guilt because of that, not that his mother would have allowed him that particular emotion, had she been around to sense it in him. No, she would have insisted it wasn't his fault, not any of it, and although his head might understand and agree, it wasn't the same in his hearts. Had she not hesitated because of her concerns for him, had she gone immediately to Gallifrey, would the Master have dared to follow them there? But she hadn't, she'd gone to Earth instead, with disastrous results.

Oh, her reasoning was sound. The information they had for the Doctor was vital, and a lot of his former traveling companions lived on that planet. It would be easier to wait there than to go looking for him; eventually, he'd show up. Besides, Romana had confessed to her son, she'd rather liked Paris the first time the Doctor had taken her there.

Now she would remain there forever.

Her son's lips twisted in a grimace of anger. She was dead, killed over and over again, each forced regeneration lasting only long enough for her to be killed once more and brought to the next. The woman lying sprawled awkwardly across the small bed was a statuesque brunette who bore no resemblance to his petite, blonde mother, but he'd known it was her, even beyond the circumstantial evidence of it being their own flat and her own room. He recognized her, recognized the Master--and oh, that bastard would pay a thousand times over for this!--and recognized his own danger, all in the space of a double heartbeat. He felt like a coward for just leaving her body, for not saying a proper good-bye, but she would have wanted him safe. Besides, there were others in danger. They were the whole reason he was sitting on this train, headed out to a certain discreetly located military hospital. He had to find a way to warn them, especially now that his mother was...gone.

He swiped angrily at a tear that trickled unbidden from his eye. A vision of her as he'd last seen her flashed into his memory, for an exquisitely painful moment. She would be a medical anomaly, a nameless stranger with an inexplicable double-circulatory system, murdered in their home for unknown reasons by persons equally unknown, at least officially–except that he and his mother were wanted as "material witnesses", which was the same thing as saying they were suspected of murder. The police would neither guess nor believe that Madame Romana Smith and the unknown murder victim were one and the same person.

The young man's lip curled in a silent growl. All because his mother had the misfortune to once travel with the Prydonian Time Lord known only as "The Doctor".

His father.

His fist clenched as he fought the resentment he always felt at the thought of his father. After all, the man didn't even know he existed, hadn't known that Romana was pregnant when she decided to stay in E-Space to help the Tharils. Hell, she hadn't even realized it herself, not for several months! By then, she was even more firmly committed to making a difference in that universe, and had simply taken her "interesting condition" in stride. It was the first time in literal centuries that a Time Lord had been born rather than created in the genetic Looms, but it had been a successful birth nonetheless.

An illogical part of the young man's mind still felt that the current situation might have been prevented if only the Doctor had bothered to check on Romana at least once. He might not have been able to convince her to come back with him, but he might have gotten to know his son; not that the Doctor seemed the reliable sort, but he did seem to have a conscience. He wouldn't have abandoned them. Especially once the Master made his appearance.

How he had found them and his reasons for being in E-Space in the first place were mysteries the renegade Time Lord never bothered to explain, nor had he and his mother spent much time wondering about it. Since the Master's first act upon arrival had been to try and kill Romana, neither of them had wasted energy on questions that might or might not have answers. It was entirely possible that he'd come to E-Space to do exactly what he'd attempted to do. Whatever his reasons, they'd managed to elude him, and Romana had been confident that the trap they'd left him ensnared in would keep him from finding them, at least long enough for her to establish contact with some of the Doctor's old friends at UNIT while they searched for her former lover.

So much for that theory.

He shook his head irritably. Brooding was getting him nowhere. He glanced down at the forged passport that had brought him to England. His mother had frowned at his choice of human friends during their stay on Earth, but even she had been forced to acknowledge the usefulness of getting to know an expert forger and other assorted criminals. Especially under these circumstances. It had been simple to contact Gaston, get him to agree to forge a passport for his friend to "pass along to another friend in trouble,"then allow himself to regenerate, changing his appearance to more closely approximate the photograph Gaston provided.

The tall young man with the white-blonde hair and indeterminate hazel eyes was gone, replaced by one two inches shorter and several pounds lighter, with black hair and eyes a vivid shade of blue. Thank all the forces of the Universes, known and unknown, that Mother had shown him how to control his regeneration. Another Time Lord would have no trouble identifying him--he had no doubts as to the Master's ability to do so if he caught up with him once again--but that was the least of his worries right now. He was more concerned with the Sureté. Far better that they think he and his mother had both dropped off the face of the earth, while he resurfaced with an untraceable new name and face in London.

UNIT was his best chance, his and the people whose names were linked through the small data retrieverhe now possessed. His mother's decision to entrust it to him had turned out to be fatally wise. He patted his shirt pocket, absently assuring himself of its presence. Yes, UNIT was both his best chance and theirs.

He only hoped he could get help--and get to them--before the Master did.


	3. We'll Always Have Paris

**The TARDIS**

"Where are we going?" Ace demanded. The Doctor had woken her up with his noisy passage down the corridor past her cluttered bedroom, at the ungodly hour of 6:00 in the morning, ship's time. She'd come even wider awake, although no less happily, a few minutes later when she felt the TARDIS give its usual shake, preparatory to dematerializing. Something was obviously up, and so was Ace a minute later. She threw on her clothes and headed for the console room.

"I finally remembered where I was when I was ready to regenerate for the first time; I'm entering the coordinates in the TARDIS' memory in case I have to take us there," the Doctor replied, head down as he intently matched action to word. "I don't know why I never did it before," he murmured, half to himself. His voice trailed off as he depressed the last set of buttons with a theatrical flourish. "There! That's done."

"Is that where we're going now?" Ace asked, perking up a bit.

"No," came the disappointing reply.

"Then where _are_ we going?" Ace demanded in exasperation. Really, it was too early in the morning for guessing games!

"We're going to visit Susan," he replied, eyes glued to the console. "I'm long overdue," he added, his voice tinged with guilt. "I haven't seen her since that nasty business with the Death Zone." He paused. "Of course it wasn't me who saw her then, it was me. Me No. 5, that is, although Me No. 1 got to spend a bit of time with her, too, but there wasn't exactly time for a nice chat until my first me took her home." His voice had gone from guilty to wistful.

Ace grinned. "Whatever you say, Professor," she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth and shot him a guilty look of her own. He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he merely grunted.

Ace didn't let it bother her. She was excited at the prospect of not only a new adventure, but one of very personal significance to the Doctor. They were going to go see the Doctor's granddaughter, maybe even his first self. The old man seemed like quite a character; hard to think of him as actually being younger than the version she was traveling with now!

Not that they'd been idle since leaving that last planet. She and the Doctor had gone through the TARDIS archives with real purpose, trying to find something, anything, that would explain the mysterious lapses in his memory. Barring that, they'd hunted for physical evidence to replace it--pictures of Susan's parents, of Susan herself as an infant, birth records, anything.

They found nothing. Not that his files were kept up particularly well, but the hard copy and computer records from that particular time period were even holier than the Doctor's memory. He'd admitted sheepishly to Ace that he only repaired the continuous monitoring circuitry during his second incarnation, the period of time Ace secretly termed his "Moe" look. Honestly, that hair was too much!

But Moe hair or not, silly recorder music or not, the Doctor's second self had at least realized the importance of continuous monitoring. Not in the loo or the shower or bedrooms, of course--although Ace would dearly have loved to see what some of his companions did in the privacy of their own rooms!--but in the Console Room, in the Conservatory Garden, and in the myriad other public rooms and corridors that made up the TARDIS' maze-like, constantly changing interior.

Eventually the Doctor had been forced to give up. For whatever reason, he hadn't recorded anything during the period of time when Susan had come aboard the TARDIS, and only spottily up to her 10th birthday. Which just happened to be the exact period of time where the Doctor's actual memories began, and not just the general knowledge that he'd had Susan since she was a baby. Something must have happened; maybe there was a reason no one could know Susan was there. Ace looked forward to the unraveling of the mystery as much as she did to meeting the Doctor's granddaughter. It was almost too good to be true.

**Paris**

_Too good to be true was right_, Ace thought disgustedly as she stepped out of the TARDIS. It looked like Earth, all right, but certainly not where she'd expected to find herself when the Doctor announced their arrival. "Grotty looking spot you've brought us to this time," she pronounced as she flashed her torch around the green-tiled walls. The TARDIS view screen had shown them only that they'd materialized inside a darkened room instead of in the small park the Doctor had promised, and merely sat there in stubborn silence when he tried to confirm if they'd at least arrived in late 21st century Earth or not. So out they'd come to investigate, and it looked to Ace as if the only confirmation they'd receive would be of the negative kind. "Does Susan work in an infirmary?"

"No," came the not-unexpected response, the Doctor's voice as hushed as her own. "Drat, this isn't the right place at all," he continued in an aggrieved tone. "Not even the right time, unless I'm very much mistaken." He straightened. "Well, let's just see where we are, then."

Ace had sighed in resignation when the Doctor appropriated her torch and suggested she fetch another one, trotted off to do just that, and found that he'd already started exploring before she got back. Typical, and just as typical was her now rock-solid belief that they'd not arrived in the right time or place. Again. But if the TARDIS brought them here, there must be a reason, so Ace was willing to sit on her impatience. For the moment... "So where are we then? Hullo!" She interrupted herself as she found a table with a stack of books and a couple of small notebooks scattered across its surface. "Have a look at this, Doctor, I think we're in France!" She held up one of the books and shined her torch on it.

"'Franton's Handbook of Modern Anatomy,'" the Doctor translated. "You're right, Ace. Spot on! France in the late 20th, if I'm not mistaken. Here," he said suddenly, "shine your torch on that door."

Ace did as requested, then made a face in the darkness as she read the words written there. "Morgue! Ew, what a creepy place to be at night!"

"Not exactly cheerful," the Doctor agreed. "But the location doesn't interest me so much as the question of why the TARDIS brought us here? Are you trying to tell me something, old girl?" The Doctor patted the edge of the silent blue box distractedly, then headed for the table once again. "Maybe there's something in these notes I need to take a look at."

Ace refrained from asking why they didn't just put on a light as she leaned on the table next to the Doctor. She resigned herself to more waiting as he shuffled through the notes, muttering to himself, felt her eyes and mind glazing over before she realized something had changed. She turned her head sharply, tensing as she realized that the Doctor had stopped speaking, that he wasn't moving and barely seemed to be breathing as he stared at the clipboard he held clenched in one hand. They remained that way for another moment, frozen; just as Ace was about to ask what was wrong, the Doctor moved, slamming the clipboard back down on the table and turning without a word to the interior door that led, Ace presumed, to where the actual bodies were kept.

He ignored her whispered inquiries as to what was wrong, just kept moving until he reached the door, opened it and sped through as if pursued. Ace gave up her questions, just followed him through that dark opening and into the coolness of the other room.

The Doctor startled an exclamation of surprise out of Ace by snapping on the light, momentarily blinding her. When her vision returned to normal, she saw him examining a row of drawers along the far wall, hurrying from one to the other as if looking for one in particular. Which, Ace realized with a jolt, was just what he was doing. She crossed the room, intending to offer her assistance.

When she arrived at his side, however, it was obvious her help wasn't needed. The Doctor had stopped in front of one particular drawer, his hand hesitating on the handle before unlocking it and pulling it open, the expression on his face half-fearful, half-determined.

Ace stepped back as the drawer slid noiselessly open, the covered body she'd braced herself to see lying anonymously on the cold metal slab. Truly anonymous; Ace's rudimentary French told her that the body was labeled "Unknown Female." But not, apparently, unknown to the Doctor, or at least Ace presumed that something in the lab report on this "Unknown Female" made the Time Lord think he knew who she might be.

Before she could ask, the Doctor had removed the sheet from the corpse's face, his entire body taut, as if he hoped he wasn't going to see what he clearly expected to see. "What is it?" Ace demanded. She looked over the unfamiliar body, not as bothered by it as she'd thought she would be. Somehow, the actual sight of a dead body, in all its prosaic reality, was less creepy than just the idea of being in a morgue at night. Besides, it wasn't exactly the first one she'd ever seen. "Is it someone you know?"

The Doctor nodded grimly. "Oh yes, I know her," he answered, his voice rough with some tangle of emotions Ace was hard-put to identify. She studied the woman's face more closely, giving the Doctor time to get himself under control. She wasn't sure how long it would take, since she'd never really seen him _out_ of control, but she was willing to wait.

One thing was certain; _she'd_ never seen this woman before. Or had she? Certain features seemed familiar, but it was a distant familiarity, as if she were recalling a memory of an old photograph. That was it! Ace almost snapped her fingers as it came to her. In the TARDIS database, the files on the Doctor's old companions. This was Romana. The Time Lady Romana something-or-other Ace hadn't bothered to memorize. She smiled to herself with satisfaction, but the smile gradually turned into a puzzled frown. Hadn't the Time Lady regenerated? Yes, she'd been a china-doll blonde when she left the Doctor to stay in E-Space, but the face of the statuesque brunette seemed identical to her first self, even in death. What was she doing here, on Earth? And in this form?

"Fair questions, both of them," the Doctor murmured. Ace turned in surprise, then bit her lip and lowered her eyes sheepishly as she realized she'd voiced her irritated puzzlement out loud. "Questions I intend to discover the answers to," the Doctor continued grimly. "Come on." He stared down at the once-familiar face, reaching out tenderly to brush a strand of brown hair away from her cold cheek. Ace thought she heard him whisper "Au revoir" before he re-closed and locked the drawer. He stared down for another moment, his face expressionless, then turned abruptly and headed for the TARDIS, Ace hurrying to keep up.

She'd barely reached the interior when the Doctor reappeared, holding something in his hand. It was a slender, metal container with what looked like a nozzle at one end. "I can't just leave her here, for them to turn into a science project. By the time UNIT gets her away from them, it'll be too late." He hefted the container defensively, as if expecting Ace to argue with him. But she just nodded, and saw him relax, just a little, before he headed back into the morgue. This time, Ace stayed in the TARDIS. This was definitely something he needed to do in private.

**oOo**

"I'm certain that she deliberately regenerated into that form as a message to me." The Doctor paced rapidly around the Console room, as he'd done since returning to the TARDIS. He hadn't spoken immediately, just started moving around the room as if it were painful to stand still. Ace just watched him, waiting for whatever information he felt like sharing next. "It was her first self; she was so young," he mused, a nostalgic smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Much younger than I, as she was so fond of reminding me." The smile disappeared. "She only regenerated the one time during our stay together, and that was more to tweak me than anything else. Especially the form she chose."

"But who killed her?" Ace asked, wishing they didn't have to do this; the pain was so clear in her traveling companion's voice that she ached in sympathy. "And why?"

"You've touched on the heart of the matter," the Doctor replied thoughtfully. "Who and why, indeed."

Ace was struck by another question. "How did you know it was her? What did that notebook say?"

The Time Lord was silent for a long time, long enough for Ace to begin to regret her impulsive question, but he finally answered. "It was the combined notes of the police report and the tentative coroner's findings."

"What did they say?" Ace repeated, unenlightened.

"They described some curious medical anomalies, of course. That the murder scene had only one body, but there was evidence–hair, blood, the usual bits and pieces of untidiness murder entails–indicating at least nine other possible victims. But no evidence of the killer, who was quite careful to leave no fingerprints or identifying traces of his own, unless some of the blood belonged to him. Or rather, her, as all the evidence came from women." His voice was controlled, somewhat remote, as if he were discussing theory instead of fact, which Ace knew meant he was deeply affected by what they were talking about. Five years together was long enough for her to recognize the signs, so she tried to hurry the conversation to its conclusion.

"So the murderer knew she was a Time Lord," she blurted as the Doctor fell silent once again. "And killed all her regenerations–" She stopped at the look of pain, mortified at her own tactlessness. "Sorry."

The Doctor merely nodded, but Ace could have kicked herself. "So what do we do now?" she asked instead.

"Now? Now we go to England," the Doctor replied. Ace stared at him, not certain she'd heard him correctly. He turned to look at her, a slight smile passing fleetingly across his features. "Yes, I said England," the Doctor assured her. He walked back to stand in front of the console, fingers moving rapidly to punch in the new coordinates. "The Parisian police--yes, we're in Paris, sorry I haven't time to show you the sights–will just have to deal with an unexplained fire that destroyed a body and all notes associated with it. I'm sure the computer virus I introduced will erase all information about the case without causing too much damage to other systems." He didn't sound as if he particularly cared if it did or not. "I think it's time some old friends of mine were brought in on this."

"UNIT," Ace said, as comprehension dawned. The Doctor nodded confirmation, then pressed the final button.

They were on their way.


	4. Meet the Family

**UNIT HQ, London, England**

The TARDIS materialized in the corner of a rather untidy office. The room's sole occupant rose to his feet, startled by the unexpected--and unexpectedly familiar--sound and sight of the deceptively simple blue box. Once the TARDIS had completely materialized, a grin broke over his face and he stepped around his desk as the doors of the unlikely police call box opened, to reveal a stranger that was nonetheless as familiar to the middle-aged MD as his unconventional means of travel. The Doctor glanced around, his eyes lighting up when he spotted the other man. "Harry Sullivan!"

"Doctor! Is that really you? You've gone and done it again, I see. Regenerated, I mean." Harry Sullivan, RN, MD visibly took hold of himself as he strode forward and clasped the Doctor's hand warmly. "How marvelous to see you again! And what good timing!" he added.

"Good timing?" the Doctor echoed as Ace emerged from the TARDIS and looked around the office with a critical eye. "In what way?"

"We've got another visitor just now, and I rather think he's someone you should meet," the Doctor's former traveling companion replied, glancing over his shoulder at the door to his examining room. He turned his attention back to the Time Lord and the young lady who he judged to be the Doctor's current traveling companion. "Terribly sorry, how rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Harry Sullivan. Please, call me Harry. And I can assure you that I don't generally babble like an idiot," he added ruefully as he extended his hand. He ignored the Doctor's murmured comment, which sounded suspiciously like disagreement.

"I'm Ace," the young brunette replied with a grin as she shook his hand. "So who do we need to meet?"

"Hmm, that could be a bit difficult to explain, actually," the MD murmured hesitantly. "No offense, Miss Ace, but I think it would be best if I were to bring the Doctor in alone for this meeting. If you don't mind," he added hastily, his cheeks turning a distinct shade of pink. "It has absolutely nothing to do with you, I can assure you--"

"Ace will be perfectly fine by herself for a while," the Doctor interrupted, rescuing his flustered friend. "Won't you." It was not a question.

Ace shrugged. "I can wait," she agreed, trying to keep her voice from becoming sullen. Another test of her carefully cultivated patience. "But remember, I hate being kept in the dark!" With that warning, she turned with elaborate casualness and began studying the lab charts festooning the doctor's office walls with an interest usually reserved for paintings in the Louvre.

"After I've met this person," the Doctor added as Harry ushered him toward the examining room, "there are a few things I need to discuss with you." They disappeared behind the door, Ace wasting no time in pressing her ear against it hopefully.

**oOo**

The person waiting in the UNIT examining room was a young man about the Doctor's height, with short black hair and suspicious blue eyes. He seemed nervous; his hands fiddled constantly with a coin of some sort and he was unable to sit still on the edge of the chair he was ostensibly occupying.

The Doctor noted all of this in the time it took for the door to open and then close once again, and waited patiently for Harry to perform the introductions. The young man came to his feet, looking the Doctor over critically as the two men approached him.

Harry cleared his throat, studying the other two surreptitiously. No sense putting things off... "I think this is someone you really need to meet. If he can't help you, no one here can." He turned to face the Doctor and took a deep breath. "Doctor, allow me to present Kyris Smith."

The Doctor's expression of polite interest froze as he heard the stranger's name, and Kyris' expression had become decidedly hostile as Harry performed the introductions. "Kyris is a Gallifreyan name," the Doctor said neutrally. "Isn't it." Once again, it was not a question.

The young man nodded, his eyes flashing resentfully at Harry. Who merely shrugged and backed toward the door. "I think I'll leave you two to sort yourselves out," he murmured, fumbling behind his back for the handle. "I'm sure you have a lot of things to discuss." The door finally opened, and he escaped into his office with an audible sigh of relief.

"Well," the Doctor said, not quite sure what else to say. "Gallifreyan. It would be too much of a coincidence, I suppose, to hope that you weren't here with Romana?"

It was the wrong thing to say; the Doctor could tell by the way the young man stiffened, and his angry glare spoke volumes. "Romana was my mother," he said, enunciating each word clearly. As if he wanted no misunderstandings from the start.

It was the Doctor's turn to stiffen as he examined the boy more closely. It was obvious to him, had been obvious, from the start, that this was, indeed, a boy. Apparent age was always deceptive with Time Lords, but there was an aura of youth about the stranger facing him that could not be counterfeited. It was equally obvious that he was telling the truth, and that he expected--no, demanded--that the Doctor figure out the rest of it himself.

It wasn't difficult to divine, the Doctor thought in sudden weariness. "Why didn't Romana tell me?" His eyes met those of the angry young man before him. "Why didn't she try to contact me?"

Kyris shrugged, trying to appear indifferent, but the Doctor could read every emotion on the boy's expressive face. He'd have to learn to control that, the older Time Lord thought distractedly. It could get him into serious trouble...

"What would you have done?" Kyris countered. "Stayed with her in E-Space, when you'd already made it abundantly clear that you disapproved of her doing so? Tried to make her come home with you, when she'd already committed herself to helping the Tharils? The only reason we left at all was because of the Master," he continued bitterly. "She didn't tell you about me before you left because she didn't know, but she didn't tell you afterwards because she didn't want to force you to make a choice that would either make her miserable, or make you miserable. She always figured on telling you eventually, on taking me to Gallifrey," Kyris finished on the same bitter note, "but the Master made sure she waited too long."

"The Master." Kyris nodded, watching his father carefully. "I should've known," the Doctor whispered, closing his eyes to hide the pain and guilt that threatened to overwhelm him. Then he opened them again, because suddenly he wanted his son--his son!--to know that Romana's death and the manner of her dying hurt them both. They held each other's gaze for a long moment, then Kyris broke it by deliberately turning away. _He resents me,_ the Doctor thought with a flash of realization that staggered him almost as much as the pain that realization caused.

Pain, he told himself resolutely, he had no time to deal with. Not right now. Not with the Master loose on Earth for some vile purpose, a purpose that included the vicious murder of a woman who had once meant quite a lot to him...the Doctor shook his head, turning his thoughts back to practical matters. He would mourn later. "Why?" he asked, his voice sounding cool and remote to his own ears. "Why did your mother return to Earth? Instead of someplace less...conspicuous."

"Are you traveling with anyone right now?" Kyris asked.

"Yes, I am." The Doctor answered the apparent non-sequitur without hesitation. Kyris did not strike his father--now that would take some getting used to, thinking of himself as a father--as someone who wasted time on inconsequentials. The question must have some bearing on their current situation.

"Are they here?"

The Doctor nodded. "There's only one, a young lady named Ace who's been with me for about five years now. She's in Harry's office, waiting for us with what I imagine to be quite a bit of impatience."

Kyris glanced over at the door. "Maybe she and Dr. Sullivan should come in, now that the awkward introductions are over," he said slowly, as if reaching a decision even as he spoke. "What I need to tell you concerns them as well; I haven't told Dr. Sullivan anything, not really, just who I am and that I needed to find you. To let you know what's been happening." Not, was the implied statement, for any other reason.

The Doctor's lips tightened, then he reached for the door without saying anything.


	5. Death List

**oOo**

Ace was standing with Harry near his desk, trying to look as if they hadn't been attempting to eavesdrop. The Doctor opened the door wider and gestured for them to join him. "Kyris has informed me that you two should hear what he has to say."

Harry and Ace filed past him, Ace's eyes glinting with curiosity and some other emotion. "You old dog, you," she murmured as she passed him, giving him a sly wink. Which meant, of course, that she'd bullied or wheedled Kyris' identity out of Harry. The guilty look his former traveling companion flashed him was all the confirmation the Doctor needed. He merely shook his head as he joined the others in Harry's examining room.

Ace had perched on the edge of the examination table, next to Kyris. Harry stood uncomfortably by the sink, fiddling with a tongue depressor and his stethoscope, while the Doctor took his former place by the door. "Ace, this is Kyris. My son. His mother was the lady we saw in Paris." He spoke as expressionlessly as possible, not looking at her as she nodded acknowledgment of the introduction. "Kyris has a few things to share with us now."

Which meant, of course, that he would brook no more delays. Ace and Harry recognized the tone, even if it was the first time Kyris had been subjected to it. From this parent, at least. The Doctor's pointed gaze was as unmistakable as his tone of voice, and Kyris shifted once, uncomfortably, before he started speaking. "The reason we came back to Earth was because of this." He held the half dollar-sized disk up to the light. Ace and Harry craned their necks to see.

"What is it?" Ace asked, flashing a glance at the Doctor. He seemed extremely interested in the answer to that question, while trying to appear as if he weren't. It was a particular trick of his, one she recognized and generally ignored.

"It's a mobile data retriever." At Ace's blank look, he added: "A search engine?"

"It's 1994, Kyris. The internet isn't that advanced yet," the Doctor put in.

"OK, call it a data filter, then," Kyris plowed ahead determinedly. "It's specifically designed to access information through the TARDIS database. From anywhere." The Doctor went very still at that, but Ace was concentrating on Kyris' explanation and didn't notice. "It filters and stores the information inside. It's still linked," he added glancing at the Doctor from under his eyelashes. Looking for a reaction. His father merely nodded for Kyris to continue. "One-way link, of course. Mother brought it with her to E-Space by accident. It was supposed to be a present or something; a way for you to look up your old companions and see what happened to them, where they were at any given time, without having to muck through the TARDIS files." He grimaced briefly. "Mother said they were a real mess."

"They still are," was the Doctor's only comment. But his mind was busy sorting through everything that innocent-looking piece of equipment represented. A dangerous toy, was his first thought; one he, personally, would never have attempted to create at his most whimsical--or ambitious. But Romana would have, and had, never thinking the consequences through, no doubt too caught up in the joy and challenge of pure research to bother about anything as mundane as potentially disastrous results. But consequences, the potential the tiny computer link represented, were all the Doctor could see, because the TARDIS databases were connected to the computers on Gallifrey. Still connected, even after decades of exile, countless years spent on foreign soil and under alien skies, and Romana not realizing or not knowing or even, he feared, not caring. She'd wanted to give him a gift, a pretty bauble whose dangers she'd not thought through when using her considerable genius to create it.

_Enter the Master,_ the Doctor thought with a spasm of pain. He must have somehow discovered not only what she'd created, but had done what she'd neglected to do in extrapolating other possible uses for **a **portable, pocket-sized data filter linked through the Doctor's TARDIS to the computers on Gallifrey. Computers which were linked in turn to all the myriad worlds under Gallifreyan observation or influence or control, depending on where or when they happened to be in time and space. Computers whose information and literally millions of databases were constantly, ceaselessly updated and refined through those links.

Computers which, not incidentally, were the first link to the Matrix. And a link that allowed retrieval of one kind of data, no matter how specific, could be modified to retrieve other types of data--and send it as well.

The possibilities of what could be done through such a link both intrigued and appalled the Doctor. What in the name of the Great Unknown had possessed Romana to create such a thing? She had somehow managed to build a half-dollar sized bit of circuitry with the range to reach his ship across the void of time and space between this universe and E-Space, and the ability to function perfectly in spite of the distance and temporal differences inherent in the nature of the two universes. And somehow the Master had got wind of it and tried to take it for himself.

"So what happened next?" Ace was asking, bringing the Doctor back to the present. "Why'd you suddenly decide to come back here, all the way from E-Space?" _Wherever that was_, her tone implied.

"The Master," Kyris replied tightly, his eyes narrowing and darkening with hatred. "He found us, somehow, soon after Mother discovered that quite a lot of the Doctor's past traveling companions were dead. Not from old age or anything benign; they'd died under very strange circumstances, some looking accidental, but some definitely...murder."

Ace and Harry exclaimed aloud at that revelation, then both looked at the Doctor. His expression was grim, and his next question was spoken very softly. "Who?"

Kyris reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, hesitating only briefly before handing it to his father. "I wrote them down in case...well, in case."

"Jamie McCrimmon, Jo Grant-Jones, Tegan Jovanka, Melanie Bush," he read, raising disbelieving eyes to meet those of his son. "All of them murdered? It doesn't seem possible."

"Not Mel!" Ace protested, swallowing a sudden lump in her throat. The older woman had been the Doctor's traveling companion when Ace first met him, and had left almost immediately, before Ace had time for more than "how d'y'do" and "don't forget to write." But however brief, they'd shared an adventure together, and Ace had thought she would be great fun to get to know. That would never happen now, but she forced down the stab of grief as Kyris responded to their protests.

"Unfortunately, it's very possible," Kyris said flatly. "It's also obvious who did it."

"The Master." The Doctor's voice was as flat as that of his son; he didn't even look at the boy's nod of confirmation. "How?" was his next question. Not one Ace would have chosen to ask, but she could tell that the Doctor needed to hear it.

"Jamie McCrimmon was stabbed to death in his sleep in his home," Kyris began, struggling to keep his voice emotionless. "No trace of the killer or motive for the murder was ever discovered. Demons were seriously discussed when he was found, since the door was locked from inside and it was quite obvious he hadn't stabbed himself in the back after slitting his own throat." His voice remained even, but Ace could see how white he was around the lips. "The next victim was Jo Grant-Jones, killed in an apparent hit-and-run incident in broad daylight. That was in--"

"1980." This time it was Harry who interrupted. "The Brigadier, Lt. Benton and I attended the funeral," he explained, gazing in turn at the others. "She used to work for UNIT, a marvelous girl, very cheerful. You remember, Doctor." The Time Lord nodded soberly. He did, indeed, remember. "We were all shocked at her death, she was so young, but we never dreamed it was murder..." His voice trailed off in confusion.

"Witnesses said that the driver was a dark, bearded man in black who seemed to swerve the car deliberately to hit her," Kyris said, his voice turning grim. "And that he was laughing maniacally as he drove away. In spite of this, the police assumed--"

"--he was drunk," Harry finished, nodding his confirmation of the story. "It was ruled manslaughter, but the drunk driver was never caught. Dr. Jones--her husband--well, colleagues in the archaeological field said he was never the same after that."

The Doctor groped for the chair behind him, sitting heavily. "Tegan? Mel?" He was determined to hear the whole list, Ace realized with an internal shudder of sympathy. Every single one.

"Tegan Jovanka was killed in a plane crash over her parent's sheep ranch in Brisbane, Australia in 1990," Kyris continued. "She'd just gotten her pilot's license for single-engine aircraft. It was her third solo."

"That doesn't sound very suspicious," Ace objected. "New pilots crash all the time."

Kyris turned his gaze on her. "We thought so, too, until we saw that the police investigation turned up evidence that something hit her, collided with her in mid-air. And they never recovered a body." Ace bit her lip and flashed a glance at the Doctor. Who continued to listen impassively. "There was some flurry about UFOs, and that was it. Another flamboyant, ambiguous death."

"Keep going," the Doctor said stiffly, and Ace shook her head in admiration. He was as stubborn as they came, that one; he was obviously hating every word of this, but was equally obviously determined to hear it out. All of it, all the details, not just who and when. No, he had to know the how of it as well, and Ace couldn't tell if he thought it was the least he owed his former traveling companions, or whether it was a form of penance for allowing it to happen to them. Nor was she certain she wanted to get that involved in the Doctor's thought processes; he'd always kept his private feelings private, no matter how much he'd opened up to her about Susan...had it really only been a few weeks ago? It felt much longer, and Kyris' death list wasn't helping. She repressed a superstitious shudder, forced herself to concentrate on his words instead.

"Mel's death was much simpler," Kyris was saying. No one missed the ironic note in his voice. "She died of snakebite two years after Tegan's death." He paused. "Of course, since she was taking down a computer system at a closed military base in Antarctica at the time, it was a rather suspicious snake bite."

Ace felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes, and sternly forced them down. Public displays weren't her style, and she'd much rather mourn her almost-friend in the privacy of her own cabin. Besides, like the Doctor, she wanted to hear it all, and now she didn't care if it was atonement or a simple need to know the facts; motive wasn't important.

"No one was implicated or arrested, not even the members of her team. None of them had the motive or the actual opportunity," Kyris continued. "It was as if someone appeared, released the snake--they found the body, King Cobra, dead of the cold soon after it bit her--and vanished without a trace. Whoever it was picked a time when Mel was alone outside the base. Her team members were all together in the camp, within sight of each other the entire time, none had a grudge or even a disliking for her, and the investigators couldn't believe it had been a conspiracy of the ten of them against her. There just wasn't any evidence to lead to such a conclusion."

It was the Doctor's turn to take a deep, shuddering breath. "At least she made it back home," he said softly.

"There's more," Kyris said after a moment's uncomfortable silence. "Mother figured out that the Master was making the deaths so flamboyant because he wanted you to know it wasn't coincidence, that they were all being murdered for a reason. One companion for each regeneration, you see. All but the fourth and the first. We figured that he was after one particular person for each, and Mother, she thought that she--" He stopped, unable to continue, and his father quickly spoke the words his son couldn't quite manage.

"She thought that she was for the fourth."

Kyris nodded, then continued in a ragged voice. "She also figured out who he was after for the first. Someone named Susan. Susan Foreman." He studied the Doctor with clinical interest, waiting for his reaction.

"Campbell," his father corrected him absently. "Young David's last name was Campbell, and she took it when they were married." He shook himself and looked first at Kyris, then at Ace. "Well, Ace, it looks as if this mystery and the question of my missing memories regarding Susan are very much connected."

"The Master doesn't know that her name is Campbell; he doesn't even know when or where or who she is. It's one of the reasons he needs this," Kyris broke in excitedly, holding up the small disk. His resentment toward his father seemed to fade somewhat as he concentrated on putting together the facts. Very like the Doctor, Ace couldn't help thinking, to put aside personal feeling when "on the case," so to speak. "He can't tap into the TARDIS computers directly, and without that information, he can't find out who Susan is, where she is, or anything else about her. He could randomly search through time and space, but he doesn't know where to begin; he doesn't even have a timeframe to start him out."

"And his TARDIS' connection with the computers on Gallifrey was severed quite a long time ago," the Doctor added grimly. "It hasn't seemed to matter to him. Until he somehow found out about this, had an immediate need for it as well as an ability to see the long-term usefulness of such a device."

"And it's even harder for him since Susan's not from Earth," Ace interjected excitedly. The Doctor shot her a look, but refrained from comment. Ace was puzzled; even if Harry didn't know who Susan was, what difference would it make? Then she understood. Her eyes widened in alarm and she opened her mouth to rush out an apology, but Harry was already speaking.

"I'm sorry, who is Susan?" The puzzled expression on Harry's face deepened as the other three exchanged glances. "Am I missing something here?"

"Yes, and I think we'd best keep it that way," was the Doctor's clipped response. "I'm sorry, Harry, I don't mean to keep secrets, but if the Master is after Susan, it would be very dangerous for you to know any more about her. We probably shouldn't have even let you know her married name, or even the fact that she is married. Anyone who knew her, knew about her, could be in danger. In fact..." his voice trailed off as an expression of fear flashed across his face.

"What is it?" Harry asked, tensing.

"I think we'd better be going now," the Doctor said, ignoring Harry's question. He rose to his feet. "We could be endangering you by our mere presence. Kyris--" he hesitated, not quite certain what to say. "If you wouldn't mind coming with us--"

"You're who I was supposed to look for," Kyris responded with a shrug. He came to his feet as Ace hopped down from the examining table to join them at the door. "Thank you for all your help, Dr. Sullivan," he said formally. "I hope to see you again."

Harry smiled faintly. "As do I. I hope to see all of you again. And soon." He shook Kyris' hand, then Ace's, then turned to face the Doctor. "Keep them safe."

The Time Lord nodded. "As safe as I can," he promised. "As safe as I can."

Harry watched them file out the door of his examining room and into the TARDIS, one by one, the Doctor the last to go. He hesitated on the threshold, turned, and raised his hand in a brief salute. Harry waved in return, watching stoically as the TARDIS vanished.


	6. Googling Sarah Jane

**oOo**

"We have to go to South Croydon--that is where Sarah Jane is living, isn't it?"

Kyris gaped at his father, fumbling for the disk. "Put this into a reader, then input her name and the approximate date you want, and it'll tell you where she is."

The Doctor took the disk with a nod of thanks. He tucked it into his jacket pocket before punching destination coordinates into the console. "I've a scanner in my laboratory that ought to do nicely." He headed for the interior door.

"Why are we looking for Sarah Jane?" Ace demanded stridently.

The Doctor paused, fingers on the door handle. "Because she's met Susan," he said softly. "Met her as Susan Campbell. Sarah Jane, the Brigadier, and Ian and Barbara Chesterton all knew her. The only other person on Earth who met her and traveled with me was Tegan Jovanka."

Ace's brow wrinkled in confusion. "So why find Sarah Jane and not the others?"

"Right, wouldn't Ian and Barbara be more likely targets? They were with you when you left Susan on Earth," Kyris interjected. Ace didn't much care for the way he said that, but kept shut; his attitude was the Doctor's problem, not hers.

"The continuous monitors on my TARDIS weren't repaired until well after Ian and Barbara returned home, to 1963 Earth," the Doctor explained patiently. "So even if the Master had this interface, there wouldn't be anything to connect them directly to Susan unless your mother--unless Romana put it there herself."

Kyris shook his head. "No, she only took information directly from the databanks. She talked about putting in stuff that might be missing, but she never--" His voice caught roughly, but he continued: "She never got around to doing it."

The Doctor nodded. "The Master won't be looking for them, but he will be looking for Sarah Jane. Not only has he seen and spoken with her, she's also someone who traveled with me for a significant amount of time--"

"Before you threw her out 150 miles from home," Kyris input snidely.

The Doctor's impatient frown deepened, but Ace could see he wasn't going to say anything to Kyris about his attitude. Maybe he didn't think he had the right. "As I was saying, Sarah Jane not only traveled with me and met the Master, but she was also there when we defeated Borusa at Rassilon's Tomb. Therefore the Master knows that she met Susan, that she might have some information about her. Besides," he added, "I believe she's his choice of victim to represent my fourth self."

Kyris looked up sharply. "But I thought my mother––"

"I believe Romana was an unfortunate victim of the Master's attempts to get his hands on this." The Doctor held up the disk. "He found out about it somehow, tried to get it from her, and failed. I'd be willing to bet he murdered her more in a fit of pique than anything else," was his grim conclusion.

"Well, what about the Brigadier?" Ace asked, eyeing Kyris warily. He looked ready to explode, and she longed for the chance to explain that the Doctor wasn't really being cold-hearted or belittling his mother's death, that he was just hiding behind the facts in order to avoid an emotional collapse in front of his newly-found son--not to mention herself--but she didn't. Now wasn't the time, and neither of them would appreciate any attempts at mollification. But they would tolerate a blatant attempt to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand, which was keeping anyone else from falling victim to the Master's latest scheme for revenge.

Much to Ace's relief, it worked. After only a slight pause, the Doctor answered her question. "He never traveled with me on the TARDIS, not for any serious length of time. Not like Sarah Jane." His voice caught, and he cleared his throat roughly. "She's the one he'll go after, both because she knew Susan and because I believe she's next on his list. If he doesn't get the information he wants from her, then the Brigadier might be in danger. But we'll have to cross that bridge when--and if--we get to it. Right now, we need to concentrate on keeping that lunatic away from Sarah Jane."

Kyris nodded reluctant acceptance of the Doctor's reasoning, although Ace could see it was a struggle. She could tell he was prepared to think the worst of his father, and wished it could be otherwise. If only they could have met under better circumstances...

The Doctor had turned back to Kyris while her mind wandered. "When was the last time you checked the information through the link?"

"Mother checked it every day for six months to make sure everyone else was still all right. But she's been dead for almost two weeks now..." he bit his lip to keep it from trembling, obviously unable to continue. The Doctor hesitated a moment, reaching out as if to touch his son on the shoulder. Kyris moved away sharply, and the Doctor's hand fell to his side as he continued out the door, his face unreadable.

After a moment, Ace shrugged and turned to face Kyris. "Why don't I show you around a bit?" she suggested.

Kyris followed without speaking, his eyes intense and brooding.

**oOo**

"You can have this room." Ace pushed a door open and stepped inside. She'd taken the long way to the living quarters, giving Kyris what she called "the nickel tour" in an attempt to get his mind off his recent troubles. It had worked, to a certain extent; this was the first time he'd actually been in a TARDIS, and it was obvious that his sense of curiosity was almost as powerful as that of his father. They seemed to share the same strange combination of determined single-mindedness and what Ace termed "easy distractability." By the time they reached the corridor where most of the bedrooms were situated, he was chatting easily with her, peppering her with questions about living on the TARDIS and her home in Perivale. But not once did he ask anything about his father, and he stepped around the subject the few times she accidentally brought it up.

Kyris walked into the room, glancing indifferently at its sparse furnishings--a bed, a dresser, a chair--then returning his eyes to Ace. "Where's your room?" he asked, a hint of mischief coming and going in his eyes so rapidly that Ace thought she must have imagined it.

"Across the hall," she replied, not meeting his gaze. "If you need anything, just yell. But don't try waking me in the middle of the night unless it's an emergency," she warned. "I don't wake up easy and I don't wake up friendly."

"Me either." Kyris crossed the room to plop on the edge of the bed. Ace remained by the door, fidgety but not sure why.

Kyris fascinated her, and not just because he was the Doctor's son. It had been a long time since she'd spent any amount of time with someone close to her own age, Time Lord, human, or otherwise, unless it was under the usual chaotic circumstances they seemed to find themselves surrounded by. Not that these circumstances were any less chaotic or potentially dangerous, but right now they found themselves in the unusual position of being at the eye of the hurricane. She hardly ever found herself with time to just sit and chat. It made her uneasy, but intrigued her at the same time. Just like Kyris. It didn't hurt that he was drop-dead gorgeous to boot... "I'd better get going," she murmured, a little disturbed by the direction her thoughts were heading. For pity's sake, he was still grieving the loss of his mother, and all Ace could think about was what fab body he had…

"Do you have to?" Kyris asked. He looked down at his hands as they plucked at the bedcover. "I was rather hoping to pick your brains."

"For what?" Ace asked with a confused frown. She'd thought they'd covered just about everything he was willing to talk about on their way here; his questions had trailed off as they entered the main hall. Not to mention the fact that her attention was wandering in what might be considered inappropriate areas...

Kyris shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, closing it abruptly as the Doctor tapped on the door and poked his head in. "We've arrived," he said, popping back out without elaborating.

Ace took a deep breath. "The game's on, then, isn't that what Sherlock Holmes always says?"

Kyris rose to his feet. "Afoot, it's afoot," he muttered as he followed after his father. But he flashed her a quick smile, whose brilliance nearly took Ace's breath away. She stumbled after him, a bit unsteady on her feet, feeling dazed and not quite sure why.

As soon as this nasty business with the Master was over, however, she intended to figure it out.


	7. South Croydon Still Life

**South Croydon**

It was obvious from the moment they stepped out of the TARDIS that something was wrong. They emerged into a small, inviting kitchen garden behind high stone walls, facing a back door that gaped open enough for the light wind to catch it and bang it against the doorframe. The Doctor caught it in one hand, his shoulders tense, but Ace didn't have to ask if Sarah or the aunt she lived with might have just gone into the house for a moment and left the door open against their return. It was too near dark, evening shadows lengthening across the ground as they stood, motionless, on the back steps. There was no sign that anyone had been working, no secateurs lying about, no tools of any kind, and the enthusiastic insect life buzzing about made it a foregone conclusion that trips into the house, no matter how brief in nature, would include a firm pull on the door to keep the garden pests out of the larder.

Speculation ended as the Doctor suddenly plunged into the gloom of the interior, neither speaking nor looking to see if either of his companions followed. Ace had a sickening feeling she knew what to expect, and almost told Kyris to go wait in the TARDIS. Not that he would have listened; he was right behind his father, as determined as the older Time Lord to find out the truth as quickly as possible. Ace felt the same way herself; she was hard on his heels but wishing mightily for a weapon of some sort as her eyes adjusted to the darkened interior. That, she realized, was the other thing that had been itching her subconscious; the house was completely dark, at a time when any sensible person had lit a lamp or two. And if the occupants had gone out, they'd certainly been careless in leaving the back door open. There was no sound from the telly, no radio, only the sound of her own breathing and the light footsteps of her two companions as they headed for the stairs leading to the second floor.

Ace paused before following, her eyes caught by a square of white against the darkness of the table. It was a piece of paper wedged under a stoneware salt shaker. Sarah Jane's name was printed neatly on the outside, and she hesitated only a moment before unfolding it, squinting to read it in the fading light from the window. It was a note from the aunt, telling Sarah Jane she'd been invited to a friend's for the week and wouldn't return until the following Saturday. No telling when it had been written, but Ace didn't think it had been read. She hoped the aunt, Lavinia was her name, hadn't been interrupted on her way out the door and had made it safely to her week in the country.

Ace also hoped Sarah's aunt wouldn't be coming home to a tragedy, but experience and instinct both told her not to hold her breath on that one. She tucked the note into a pocket as she hurried after the other two, treading as noiselessly as possible on the wooden stairs, keeping to the side closest to the wall both out of a desire to be quiet and in case of ambush.

A sudden cry from upstairs caused her to abandon this tactic as she sprinted up the remainder of the steps. She skidded to a halt in front of a half-open door as someone suddenly snapped on a light, blinking in the unexpected brightness. When her eyes had adjusted, she cautiously pushed the door open, and found exactly the sight she'd dreaded.

Sarah Jane lay on the floor, half-way beneath her bed. There was blood everywhere. Copious quantities splashed on the floor and small braided rug, drenching the furniture and walls, matting and staining her dark brown hair like a color job gone horribly wrong. Kyris was crouched next to his father, his face furrowed in concentration as he reached to gently probe the wound on her head. Sarah Jane's moan of pain startled an exclamation out of Ace. "Oy! She's still alive!"

The Doctor, who knelt on Sarah's other side, nodded, never removing his eyes from his former traveling companion. "Ace, there's a phone book in Sarah's purse with a number that just says Harry. Find it and call Dr. Sullivan immediately." He looked up, finally, but not at her, his eyes intent on Kyris. "Can you help me? We need to keep her alive long enough for the ambulance to get here."

Kyris nodded, seeming to understand immediately what the Doctor wanted, all resentment pushed aside in the midst of the crisis. Ace longed to stay and see what they were about, but she had to call Harry. Time was of the essence; she was amazed that the other woman was still alive after losing so much blood.

She raced out of the room, the murmur of voices fading as she headed back down the stairs with Sarah's purse in one hand. She threw on the light and dug furiously for the address book, dumping everything on the floor for the sake of expediency. The book tumbled out, and she grabbed it, flipping through the pages for the listing the Doctor had assured her would be there.

Ace she shifted restlessly from foot to foot after dialing the number, willing Harry to pick it up. As soon as she heard his voice, she broke into a jumbled explanation, staying on the phone only long enough to hear Harry's assurances that he was on his way before slamming it onto the receiver and sprinting back up the stairs. "He's on his way, is there something I can do?"

Ace stopped in the doorway, staring at the strange tableau in front of her. The Doctor and Kyris had pulled Sarah Jane out from beneath the bed, exposing the full extent of the damage the Master had done to her. Ace sucked in her breath at the sight. Not that she hadn't seen her share of death, but never had she been faced with such casual brutality, such careful attention to an assurance that the victim suffered. She felt a little sick, but was too astonished by what the Doctor and Kyris appeared to be doing to allow herself to give in to a momentary weakness.

Kyris knelt by Sarah's head, cradling her face in his hands, his own face raised to the ceiling with a look of intense concentration. The Doctor held one of Sarah's hands in both of his, as if comforting her, but his full attention appeared focused on whatever it was Kyris was doing.

Ace sucked in her breath in a startled gasp as Sarah twitched, then went rigid, her face distorted. The younger woman was certain she was witnessing the reporter's death, but couldn't pull her eyes away. Then, amazingly, she saw one of the raw wounds on the other woman's chest seem to pull in on itself, virtually disappearing before Ace's disbelieving eyes. She dragged her gaze back to the Doctor, but he hadn't moved, hadn't stopped staring at Kyris. Who, Ace noted, was starting to sweat, shaking as if at some tremendous effort, although he was as unmoving as his father. But when she returned her gaze to Sarah Jane, it was like looking at a different woman. The wounds were closing, not all of them, and not all the way, but as if they were healing in fast-motion photography, stopping the bloodloss, twisted limbs straightening, a horrid gash on her forehead closing almost completely. The color started to return to her face, and suddenly she was breathing, great, ragged gasps for air, punctuated with moans that told Ace Sarah Jane was still far from well.

But she was much closer to it than she had been only moments before, enough to allow Ace a cautious hope, hope that the ambulance would be doing more than just carting away a corpse. She opened her mouth to ask what had just happened, but closed it again as someone else spoke.

"Doctor, is it really you?" The voice was soft, raspy, barely a whisper, but still a voice. Sarah Jane's voice. Ace felt relief flooding her. The other woman would live.

"Hallo, Sarah Jane, yes, it's me," the Doctor murmured, patting her hand gently. "Don't try to talk right now, you've been hurt. The ambulance is on its way, and the UNIT doctors will take excellent care of you. Harry Sullivan's in charge of the surgical unit, so you know you'll be in good hands."

"Doctor, it was the Master," Sarah Jane whispered, tears springing up in her eyes. She didn't even try to blink them back, just let them fall as she struggled to speak. The Doctor wiped them gently away. "He wanted to know about Susan, who she was and where she was..."

"It's all right, I already know," the Doctor replied. "Don't worry about it."

"I didn't know where she was," Sarah Jane continued in the same raspy voice, as if she didn't hear him. She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath as the tears continued to fall. "I told him she was on Earth, at the end, to make him stop." With a sudden surge of strength she half-lifted herself from the floor, clutching his jacket with bloody hands. The Doctor held her shoulders as Kyris, caught by surprise, lost his balance and his hold on her. "He said he would hurt the Brig if I didn't tell him what he wanted to know," she whispered, her voice raw and urgent. "So I said she was on Earth, and he said that was a start, and then he--"

The sobs started in earnest then, just as Ace heard the unmistakable wail of sirens approaching the house.

**oOo**

Ace stared after the retreating ambulance. Sarah Jane was in critical condition, Harry had decreed, but would live. Ace had allowed herself a brief, relieved cry, while the Doctor, beaming, awkwardly patted her shoulder and Kyris stood stoically in the background. Harry hadn't asked any questions, and the ambulance drivers, while obviously unsure of what was going on, had done their jobs quickly and efficiently. Sarah would live, but the Doctor's expression hadn't boded well for the Master. He and Kyris were heading for the TARDIS, eyes and minds firmly on the future, and Ace hurried to join them.

"How did you do that?" she demanded as soon as she caught up to them, reaching out to touch Kyris on the shoulder. "Is that a Time Lord thing, or something to do with E-Space? I've never seen anything like it, have you, Doctor?" The words tumbled over each other, but Ace was too amazed to even think of slowing down. Too amazed, and too relieved that this had turned out well. As well as it could.

"It's a very rare ability, the healing touch," the Doctor replied when Kyris merely shrugged. "Maybe one Time Lord in a hundred thousand has it in some form or other." He fumbled wearily at the TARDIS lock, sparing a moment to "tch" at his bloody fingers.

"But not like this," Ace guessed, looking from one to the other. "Not this strong."

The Doctor shook his head when it became clear that Kyris wasn't going to answer. "No. Not this strong. Not outside of myths and legends so old that Time Lords can't even pin down their origins closely enough to confirm or deny the stories." Kyris hurried into the TARDIS without looking back.

Ace couldn't let it go. "How did you know?" She reached out and grabbed the Doctor's arm. He stopped fidgeting with the key and looked at her over his shoulder. "You knew, didn't you, that he could do it? You didn't even have to ask. How did you know?"

"I just did." The Doctor stared at her until she released his shoulder, then followed his son into the TARDIS, Ace right on his heels.


	8. Regrouping & Reconsidering

**The TARDIS**

The Doctor waited until the door shut behind Ace, then fiddled with the console with his back turned. Kyris had already disappeared into the TARDIS interior. "So where are we going, then?" Ace demanded.

The Doctor shrugged. "Away from here."

"To check on the Brigadier?"

"No, I don't think he's in any danger. Not because Sarah Jane told the Master what he wanted to hear," he added without looking. But knowing that Ace was going to object anyway. "But because he knows I'm here. He knows he's finally got my attention."

"Which means what?" Ace frowned. The Doctor still wasn't looking at her, and she knew it was because he didn't want her questioning him further on Kyris' unexpected healing abilities. But that, Ace had decided, would wait. There were more pressing needs to be addressed. She moved away from the door, deliberately acting as if she were leaving the console room, then whirling suddenly to face the Doctor. Who, of course, had conveniently moved around the console so his back was still toward her. "So, what's his next move, if he isn't going to go after anyone else?" Ace prodded.

The Doctor's shoulders moved in an elaborate shrug, and Ace blew an annoyed sigh. Fine, if he wanted to ignore her, she was happy to oblige. Just as she reached the interior door, however, the Doctor spoke: "He's going to wait for me to come after him. Then he'll set some kind of trap, attempt to take someone hostage in exchange for this." He held up the disk, still without turning around, then somehow prestidigitated it into his pocket. Or up his sleeve; either way, Ace no longer saw the small disk flashing between his fingers as he returned his hand to the various levers and buttons on the console.

"Well, if you know that's what he's up to, are you still going after him?"

"Of course." The Doctor's voice was weary. "That's how the game is played. Only this time, he's raised the stakes. He wanted to be quite clear in his intentions."

"They won't stop, will they?" Ace asked slowly, pulling absently at the end of her partially unraveled braid. "The killings, I mean. He won't stop even if you give him that thing."

The Doctor shook his head, finally turning to meet her gaze, his eyes as weary as his voice. "No. They won't. So we'll just have to find a way to keep him away from this."

"We could destroy it." Ace and the Doctor both turned to face the now-open interior door. Kyris stood there, half-in and half-out of the room. "Then he'd have no reason to kill anyone else."

"He doesn't need a reason," the Doctor disagreed. "You don't know him like I do, Kyris. If we destroy this--" the disk reappeared in his hand "--he'd try to kill everyone who ever traveled with me, out of spite. Or at least us." Ace winced at the brutal honesty in the Doctor's voice. "And there is no way I will allow him access to Susan." His voice was flat, cold.

Kyris stilled. "Of course not." His eyes flashed with understanding before he turned to leave, then hesitated, giving Ace a half-smile. "Right. I've forgotten the way to the bedrooms, would you mind?"

It was Ace's turn to hesitate, but the Doctor had turned back to fiddling with the console, so she smiled back at Kyris and took the arm he offered. "I think a quick stop at the baths first, eh?"

**oOo**

They were nearly back at the bedrooms before Kyris spoke. "I need to know something."

"What?" Ace asked cautiously. The race to save Sarah Jane's life had taken a lot out of her, out of all of them, and she for one was starting to feel it. She and Kyris had each used the shower facilities near the TARDIS pool, and that had helped, as had changing into sets of the clean jogging outfits stored there. But there was still blood on their own clothes, which they'd left in heaps outside their changing rooms, for the TARDIS to work its mysterious cleaning magic on. Blood on their clothes, and heavy in their minds.

The whole time, Ace had felt the weight of Kyris's expectation that she would bring up his healing abilities again, and had taken a perverse sort of pleasure in not even hinting at it. Oh, she had questions, loads of them, but intended to wait until the right moment to ask them. Now, he was too much on guard; she could practically hear him inventing elaborate ways to put her off. Much better this way. Never let a chap think he had you figured out. Not this early in the game.

"What do you want to know?" Ace hoped it wasn't anything to do with murder; she'd had more than enough of that for one day. And he'd already extracted quite a bit of her own life story out of her, the first time she'd shown him around the TARDIS. More than she'd meant to share with him, or anyone else for that matter. She realized with a start that she'd told Kyris things about herself, blurted them out, really, that she hadn't even told the Doctor. Something else to file away.

Kyris paused in the hall just outside their bedroom doors, ducking his head in an embarrassed manner, hands thrust into pockets as if he didn't know what to do with them. "I want to know about my father," Kyris replied softly.

Ace blinked in surprise; he'd been so adroit at avoiding the subject the last time they were alone together that she'd expected it to be a long time before he brought it up. If ever. "I don't know anything about him except what I've seen the last few days, and what my mother told me. I'm curious," he admitted. "He isn't anything like I expected, but at the same time, he is."

Ace glanced around self-consciously. "Look, let's take this inside, shall we?" She pushed his door open without asking permission, and he followed her inside and sat easily on the edge of the bed.

Ace dragged herself over to sit next to him, plopping heavily on the bed and forcing herself not to fall backwards onto its welcoming surface and sink into an exhausted sleep. If Kyris wanted to talk about his father, she wasn't about to set things back any just because she was a little tired. Although how he'd bounced back so quickly after what he'd done for Sarah was as much a mystery as the healing itself…… "What do you want to know?" _Stay on subject, Ace._ "And why don't you just ask him yourself?" She held her breath on that one; had she gone too far? After all, he'd met his father for the first time under circumstances that were hardly conducive to starting a friendly father-son relationship. Not when all that was on their minds was murder and attempted murder.

"I can't." The statement held a hint of panic, but Ace was glad he didn't seem upset at her for asking it. "I'm just not ready for any cozy little father-son chats, not yet. You've been traveling with him for a long time haven't you?" Ace nodded. "I'd really like to hear what you have to say about him, before I talk to him myself. Do you mind?"

Ace shook her head. "Course not." She understood Kyris' nervousness; she knew she'd probably react the same way if she ever met her own father. In fact, it was kind of funny that she and Kyris had that in common, that their fathers didn't even know they existed, in the most literal sense of the words. Ace remembered asking her mother about her father when she was small, maybe five or six, when other kids were teasing her for not having one. She also remembered her mother's response quite clearly, every word of it: _"He don't know about you, luv, and I don't know where he is, so don't worry about it no more."_ And that, as far as Ace's mother was concerned, had been that. The subject had never been raised again, by either of them. "I'll do my best," Ace said, returning to the present. She held up a restraining hand as he opened his mouth. "But you'll have to answer some of my questions, too. Fair's fair." She grinned cheekily at him.

"You want to know about the healing." Kyris was very quiet as he stared down at his hands. "I promise to tell you what I can."

"Later," Ace guessed, then smiled at his nod. "Got it. So what do you want to know?"

"Everything. What regeneration is he? He was third when he was--that is, when I was--well, you know." He floundered to a stop as Ace nodded her understanding. "What does he like to do?" Then, wistfully: "What's he like?"

Ace nibbled on her bottom lip while she considered the barrage of questions. "He's seventh, so there's been three of him since your moth--since E-Space," she corrected herself awkwardly. "He likes to go round rescuing people and helping them, which you've seen hasn't changed. You seem to be a lot like him, at least that way," she continued slowly, not caring if he disliked the comparison or not. He'd asked for her opinion, after all. "He likes to travel, doesn't like to spend too much time sitting still. He doesn't," she added, "like to have too much time on his own, where he can think about things."

"What things?" Kyris asked, intrigued. That sounded like what he wanted to know. How his father's mind worked, or at least as close as someone could get without actually being him.

"Personal things," Ace said, giving the door a guilty look. "I probably shouldn't have said that; it took him nearly five years to talk to me about anything personal, and I don't think he really meant to. I should go now," she added, standing up abruptly but not moving away from the bed. "I'm glad you want to get to know him, but asking me is the same as talking to your mother, getting it second-hand."

"But you've been with him for a lot longer than she was," Kyris argued. "Surely there must be something more you can tell me?" He smiled coaxingly.

Ace felt herself giving in at the sight of that smile. "He likes to help people, he has a very strong sense of what's right and what's wrong." She nibbled her lip again, choosing her words carefully. "He feels very responsible for the people who travel with him, I think you already know that." Kyris nodded. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that he's having just as rough a time of it right now as you are. It may not look like it, but he really does care. He just likes to keep himself to himself, if you know what I mean. He's very private, and I think I've already said way, way too much. I really should go now." She shifted uneasily, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn the discussion had taken. Time for a strategic withdrawal.

Kyris' hand on her wrist startled her. She gazed down at him in surprise. "Please, don't go," he said, his voice hesitant. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just...I just wanted to see what he was like. What you thought he was like. And you told me what I wanted to hear."

"What was that?" Ace asked, allowing herself to be drawn back down beside him.

"That he's a good man," Kyris replied simply. "I kind of knew it, from hints my mother gave me, but I'd also got in the habit of resenting him. Because he wasn't around," he added, looking to see if Ace understood him. She nodded encouragingly, either not noticing his hand still on her wrist or not minding. "Especially when my mother was killed. It still hurts, hurts a lot." His voice was low and filled with pain. "I could tell it hurt him too, but I was too angry to care."

"And now you do?"

He nodded. "I didn't expect to, not this soon," he said slowly. "Seeing him, how he was with Sarah Jane, made me realize how wrong I'd been. I expected him to be cold, but he's not, even if he tries to make people think he is. I was willing to believe it, because it was what I'd told myself to expect, you know? From someone who couldn't be bothered to check in on Romana, see if she'd changed her mind and needed a lift back home or anything. Or at least see how she was getting on."

"But now you understand it wasn't like that, right?" Ace pressed, anxious for Kyris to resolve his expectations with the way his father actually was. Whatever way that might be; no one seemed able to really get the Doctor, but Kyris of anyone had the best chance.

"Right," he agreed, without hesitation. "He wasn't ignoring her, he didn't abandon her, he just got caught up in the next crisis."

"And the next one after that, and the next one after that," Ace finished. "Yeah, that's about right."

"When we were back in Dr. Sullivan's office, it seemed like he was treating my mother's death as a puzzle piece--trying to figure out where it fit in," Kyris continued after a reflective moment. "But then, when he was so desperate to save Sarah Jane, I realized something."

"What?" Ace was intrigued by Kyris' apparent change in attitude; he hadn't struck her as a particularly forgiving person, or someone whose opinions were changed by anything short of a major miracle--or catastrophe. Much like his father.

"I finally understood that he was concentrating on the living," Kyris said. "Flash of insight, call it. Right now he doesn't have time to mourn for everyone he's lost, Mother included. Not until he knows that the others are safe. Especially Susan." He smiled self-consciously. "I don't have much of a basis for that feeling, I know it isn't logical, but there it is. I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier, and all of a sudden, it was like I was watching myself from his perspective, feeling what he was feeling and seeing myself through his eyes. Suddenly I understand what my instincts were trying to tell me, that I could trust him even when my emotions told me not to. My instincts aren't always right," he admitted, "but they've rarely let me down, at least when I listen to them."

"Wow," was all Ace could say. She'd always known that the Doctor's mind worked faster than her own--that it probably worked faster than any mind ever had on Earth, up to and including Stephen Hawking--but seeing that same speed at work in Kyris was a revelation. Not only had he gone from outright hostility to what sounded suspiciously like understanding in a short period of time, but he'd done it without any outward sign that the process was even occurring, even when they were trying so desperately to save Sarah Jane's life. She made a mental note never to challenge him to a game of poker. "What brought all this on?"

Kyris shrugged self-consciously. "He's real to me now, when he never seemed it before. His companions were more real, because I got to know them through the disk. My mother never liked to talk about him, you know." Ace nodded her understanding as he looked at her. "I just assumed it was because she didn't care for him. Now, I think it's more likely because she _did_ care for him, and that it hurt her to talk about him. But I never realized it, selfish brat that I was."

"Well, that didn't take long," Ace said lightly. "When Time Lords make up their minds, they sure do it fast. Not that I'm criticizing, mind," she added hastily as he started to frown. "I think it's great. But I also think you're talking to the wrong person." _And I am desperately in need of some sleep_, she thought to herself. _Some of us just don't have that Gallifreyan stamina……_

"Can you show me where his room is?" Ace stifled a groan but stood back up, Kyris following suit. He squeezed her wrist in silent gratitude. Ace managed a grin as she opened the door, pointed in the right direction, mumbled the number of corridors he needed to turn down, then promptly turned around and collapsed on Kyris' bed. She was too tired to go any further; he would just have to find somewhere else to doss for the night.

Kyris stared at her in amazement, then grinned ruefully. "Good night, Ace," he whispered before closing the door and heading in the direction she'd indicated. He thought he heard a mumbled response, but knew Ace would be asleep in a matter of seconds, if she wasn't already. He couldn't blame her; he was just grateful she'd managed to stay awake long enough to talk him into seeing his father, now, before he lost his nerve or built up his resentment again. They were all emotionally raw and battered after the night spent trying to save Sarah Jane's life, but that couldn't be helped. It might even be better, he was more likely to get an honest reaction from his father now, before he had time to put his defenses back in place.


	9. Reconciliation

**oOo **

The Doctor sat on the edge of his bunk and rubbed his eyes. This had been one of the longest days of his life. In any of his lives, and never mind the rotation period of the planet he was currently visiting.

A long day that wasn't even over yet. He pulled the innocent-looking disk out of his pocket and stared at it, memories crowding his mind, ghosts standing before him, staring at him with accusation in their eyes. Melanie Bush. Red hair and pixieish face hiding an inquisitive mind and a love of computers second to none. She'd left because she felt like going home, a simple reason but a good one. Tegan Jovanka, would-be airline hostess and unwilling witness to one too many atrocities. The young Australian had remained on Earth out of fear, fear of what she'd seen during her short time with him--and he regretted her leaving more than anyone, because of that fear. It had been his legacy to her, and one he would have done almost anything to take back. Jo had left out of love, true love for the man she married, but she was just as dead as Tegan now, so in the end, what was the difference? Dead, all of them, just like Romana--no, don't think about her, that grief threatened to overwhelm him when he most needed control.

Romana and Kyris, another painful thought. Who knew when the boy would ever be willing to trust his father. And why should he? As far as Kyris could see, all the Doctor did was bring death. Not deliberately, of course, but simply through being who he was. Adric and the planet Traken were dead because of him, dead because of the Master; the death of a single boy, far from home, hurt as much as the death of an entire planet and its civilisation. Hurt as much as the death of Jamie McKrimmon, who had trusted the Doctor to get him safely home to a world that had no concept of the sort of technology that had both taken and returned him, and wouldn't for centuries. Just as Sarah Jane had once trusted him, and look what that got her. Torture at the hands of a maniac who had nearly succeeded in killing her, saved only by the miraculous reappearance of near-mythical Gallifreyan healing abilities.

That had been a dizzying moment, a dazzling moment, when he realized what his newly-met son was capable of. If not for Kyris, Sarah Jane would have died. There was nothing the Doctor could have done to save her, not even if he'd thrown caution to the winds and brought her to the TARDIS. The movement alone could have done for her. The Doctor breathed a silent prayer of thanks to the Cosmos, thanks that his son's antipathy toward him didn't extend to the people his mother had died trying to protect. That Kyris was as generous as Romana had been, as selfless... "Goodness you're maudlin tonight," the Doctor chided himself.

The soft tap on the door was a relief. "Come in," he called, expecting Ace with some question or other. Another life he held in his hands, another responsibility...

Kyris peered around the corner of the door, startling the Doctor into rising and taking a step forward. "Why didn't you ever come and visit?"

The Doctor stared blankly at his son before gesturing him further into the room. "Why didn't your mother ever try to contact me, to let me know about you?" he countered.

Kyris seemed to relax a little with that question. Not quite enough to smile, but almost. He came fully into the room and allowed the door to shut behind him as he sat down. "Now that we've got the accusations out of the way, maybe we can get to know each other a little." He grimaced. "I'm not usually this stiff, for example."

The Doctor found himself capable of mustering up the faint smile his son wasn't ready to give. "I know we aren't exactly meeting under ideal circumstances, but I'd like that. You already have me at a bit of a disadvantage; you know some things about me already, surely."

Kyris nodded. "But not enough. I want to know more, more than I ever thought I did."

"I didn't want to leave her, not really, you have to understand that," the Doctor said softly. "But she was so determined, she'd found her mission in life as she always contended I'd found mine, only hers would be on a more intimate level." He smiled painfully. "She always teased me, called me a cosmic White Knight after I'd made the mistake of explaining chivalry to her. I was the one destined to kill the dragons of the universe, while she quietly went about saving a single group of people. Who's to say which was the more noble goal? Your mother stayed to face the consequences, she went with her eyes wide open. Only rarely do I reap the harvest of my meddling, or allow myself to see how my initial problem-solving has held up." His voice turned wistful. "I often envy her that."

"She loved it there, she loved what she was doing, how she was helping."

The Doctor smiled. "I wish I could have been there, but I thought I had other things to do, and all the time in the universe to visit. I always do," he added, a shadow crossing his brow. "Leave it to the Master to remind me how foolish a belief that is." He shook his head, managing a ghost of a smile. "But I refuse to allow him to dominate this conversation. We will leave the Master for another time. Right now I wouldn't mind hearing of happier times. What sort of trouble you got into as a lad, what you and your mother did for fun, that sort of thing. And I'll answer any questions you have, any at all."

"Even the ones you don't want to?" Kyris couldn't help asking.

The Doctor nodded. "Especially those. You deserve no less. I only ask that we talk about the good things first. If nothing else, the Master has taught me to value the pleasures in life whenever I can."

"Sounds fair," was all Kyris said, settling down into a more comfortable position. He could certainly see his father's position; too many horrible things had happened, and many more were certain to happen before all this was over. Reminiscing about the good things sounded like just the thing.

"There was one time, when I was about six, that I decided I could navigate like a Tharil," he began.

**oOo**

Hours passed in amiable conversation before the Doctor broached the subject most on his mind. "Kyris, there are some other things we should talk about..."

"You mean the healing." Instantly the guarded tone was back in his son's voice, but the Doctor knew this discussion couldn't be put off. It was too important.

He nodded. "Yes, the healing. We need to talk about it."

"I know." Resignation and defensiveness, now. But at least resignation. At least he hadn't left in a huff. "Should we wake Ace up and get her in on this conversation? She wants to know too, and," Kyris added in a defiant burst, "I want to tell her."

"She's sleeping?" The Doctor was surprised, then glanced at the chronometer. "Ah, of course she is. So should you be, and me too, but no, don't wake her. You can tell her whatever you want when she wakes up." No point in trying to keep Time Lord secrets now, not when Ace had personally witnessed so extraordinary an event as Sarah's lifesaving. Besides, she knew when to keep shut, that one, if she knew how important it was to do so.

Kyris grinned unexpectedly. "She'll be a grouch about it."

The Doctor smiled back. "Yes, she will." He turned serious. "But you'll just have to deal with that later." He didn't ask again, but his very posture spoke volumes, his eyes a pair of dark question marks rivaling those knitted into the Doctor's vest.

Kyris shrugged. He had been sitting in the room's single chair while his father occupied the edge of the narrow bed, but rose now to roam about, lightly touching random items. The back of the chair, the lamp, the few books on the bedside table. The Doctor waited patiently. "Mom said she knew there was something different about me when I was born, but she didn't figure it out until I was six or seven. The first time I cut myself and she actually saw it heal when she went to take care of it. I guess I'd been doing things like that for years, but she'd never seen it until then."

"What happened next?"

What happened next Kyris would never forget. His mother's reaction had puzzled him at the time, although now he certainly understood her excitement--and fear.

**oOo**

"_Kyris?" His mother's voice was sharp, excited. "How did you do that, luv?" She smiled, but he still felt the tension. He shrugged, looked away, but she turned his face back to hers, her grasp on his chin gentle but firm. "How long have you been able to do that? It's important, Mummy needs to know," she coaxed._

_He shrugged again as his mother released her hold on his face. "Dunno. Always, I guess." He looked up at her solemnly. "Can't you do it, Mummy?"_

_Her smile was tremulous. "No, luv, I can't. No one's been able to do that on Gallifrey for a very long time."_

_His tone grew wary. "Is it bad?"_

_She shook her head and pulled him into a swift embrace. "No, it's wonderful. Can you do it for other people, do you think?"_

"_I guess. I never tried before." Kyris was confused, but happy; his mother seemed so proud, and it was such a little thing he did. It didn't hardly tire him out at all, and it used to. "I used to just do it when I went to bed, 'cause it made me sleepy," he confessed. "Do you have a cut? I could try." He was eager to do so, now that he understood how important this was to his mother._

_She shook her head, still smiling. "No, not right now. But next time I get a scratch, I'll fetch you to see if you can fix it up for me, all right?" But she'd never done so, having thought through the consequences and decided in favor of secrecy. Not that he knew it at the time, but later, he realized that was why she'd never let him try it on her or anyone else._

_That night, when he was supposed to be sleeping, he heard the murmur of voices downstairs, unexpected voices joining those of his mother. He his slipped out of his room, taking care to be as quiet as he could, because he sensed that he would be sent back if caught._

_He lay on his stomach and peeked through the sturdy metal railing at the end of the hall, just short of the stairs. Biroc was there, as he was most evenings, this time with some other Tharils Kyris didn't recognize. His mother was doing a lot of head-shaking and foot-tapping. Biroc was leaning forward, staring at her intensely, his voice a low growly rumble more felt than heard, at least from Kyris' vantage point._

"_I have to take him back to Gallifrey, this is too important!" His mother's voice was insistent. She stood up abruptly and turned her back on Biroc, arms crossed tightly against her chest. _

"_And what will they do with him, these Time Lords of yours?" Kyris could hear Biroc clearly now, as he raised his voice to make Romana listen to him. "Study him, exploit him, use him. You know this is so. He is safer here."_

"_His father would never allow anything like that to happen, and neither would I." Kyris held his breath to ensure that he could hear. His mother almost never spoke of his father._

"_And how would you stop it?" Biroc countered. "You do not deny that such things could happen. _Will _happen, if you bring him back there."_

_Kyris must have made a noise, even though he was trying to be as quiet as he could. Biroc's head snapped around, and he met Kyris' eyes with his own. "Your son is listening."_

"_Kyris!" Romana's voice was sharp, and she waited impatiently as he reluctantly came to his feet and walked down the stairs. "You are supposed to be in bed, young man."_

"_But you were talking about me," Kyris objected. "Do we really have to leave?" E-Space was the only home he knew, the Tharils the only family he had besides his mother. The idea of leaving frightened him, but excited him as well. He'd been told about Gallifrey and his father, but never expected to see either._

_Romana held her arms out, and he ran into them for a warm hug. "Not right away," she replied, pressing a kiss against the top of his head. "But one day." _

_He knew she was talking as much to Biroc as she was to him, and he wasn't surprised to hear Biroc's reluctant agreement. "One day."_

**oOo**

Only of course that day had been put off and put off until the Master rendered any plans moot. "Biroc was killed when the Master came after us," Kyris finished, collapsing grudgingly back into his seat. "Mother blamed herself for not leaving sooner." He looked up at his father, who had remained silent the entire time. Letting his son tell the story himself. "While we were still in E-Space she forbade me from using my healing abilities or ever telling anyone about them." A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "I still healed myself, it was such a habit by then, but only at night after she'd put me to bed. Besides us, Biroc and the Council members he brought with him to the house that night were the only ones to know, and she swore them to secrecy."

"And you're certain the Master knew nothing about this?" the Doctor asked, watching his son carefully.

Kyris shook his head. "No."

The conviction in his voice was enough to reassure the Doctor. "Your mother was right to want to bring you to Gallifrey," he said quietly. "But Biroc was also right. There are certain factions on our home world who would be very interested in exploiting your abilities, and more than one who wouldn't hesitate to try and use you."

"Like the Master." Kyris knew he would never be able to use that title without bitterness. He looked up suddenly. "Who is Susan?"

"Susan is my grand-daughter."

Kyris, caught off-guard by that blunt, straightforward answer, stared at his father. "Your grand-daughter." The Doctor nodded, and Kyris looked away, dazed. "No wonder he wants her," was all he could think to say. It was a lot to process, that and the things he'd discovered about his father just by talking to him about himself. Susan's identity, he sensed, like a shadow on the edges of his vision, might be more important than the means the Master wanted to use to find her...

"Well." Kyris looked up as his father rose to his feet, automatically joining him. "We've both got a lot to think about, eh?" The Doctor reached out and patted his son awkwardly on the shoulder. "Time for some sleep. You tell Ace whatever you want in the morning, and the three of us will try to put together a plan of action. Ace is right about one thing; waiting for the Master to make the next move is tantamount to giving up."

"So instead, we'll do the moving," Kyris agreed, smiling at his father. It felt natural this time, and he was suddenly glad he'd been able to make peace with him. "Good night."

"Good night." The Doctor watched as Kyris left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him, then collapsed into the chair his son had just vacated.

They both had enough to occupy their thoughts until morning.


	10. Personal Involvement

**oOo**

"How did it go?"

Kyris started guiltily. He hadn't meant to waken Ace, he'd only come into the room looking for something to wear to bed before dossing somewhere else. But Ace was awake, so he would answer her question and let her go back to sleep, then get some well-earned rest of his own. Ignoring the small voice that whispered to him the advantages of staying right here with Ace, he spoke.

"It went well, better than I expected." He settled himself on the edge of the bed, gingerly. Ace was still curled up in a sleepy ball, the covers in disarray around her, her hair finally tumbled fully out of the braid she'd been wearing since...when, that morning or the morning before? He couldn't remember.

"Good." A jaw-cracking yawn split her features as she pulled herself to a sitting position. "Sorry I fell asleep here."

He shook his head. "It's all right." He reached out to touch her hand. "You can fall asleep in my bed any time." He colored slightly as he realized how that remark sounded, glad of the room's darkness. Ace chuckled, but made no comment, simply slid over to the edge of the bed and let her feet dangle. After a moment, Kyris realized he was still holding her hand and let go with a guilty start. "I guess you'll be going now, you're probably still exhausted." He wasn't, though by all rights he should be after stretching his abilities to their limits and, he suspected, somewhat beyond. But he wasn't; he felt energized, restless, especially after talking to his father.

"Nah, I'm good now that I've had a few hours kip." Ace continued to sit there, not moving, and Kyris was glad of her company. "D'you want to talk about it, or just stew on it for a while?"

He smiled into the darkness. "It's strange. I'm still not sure how I feel."

"Don't worry," Ace said, a hint of laughter in her voice. "With the Doctor, you never do, even if he isn't your father. Half the time you're so aggravated you could hit him, the other half…" Her voice trailed off hesitantly. "The other half," she repeated, "you're caught between loving him and laughing at him, then you're right back at wanting to hit him." She said "you" but her tone said "I." She flushed as she realized, once again, she'd revealed more to Kyris than she'd meant.

Confused, she rose abruptly and strode to the door, pausing with her hand on the knob. "I should go now." She was alone in a dark bedroom with a young man she fancied, a young man who was emotionally vulnerable, and her conscience was telling her it would be best all around if she left and let them both catch up on their sleep. Before she did something rash and impulsive--although she doubted she'd regret it in the morning. Whatever "it" might turn out to be...

"Do you have to?" Kyris' voice was husky, his eyes luminous in the dim light of the small lamp on the bedside stand. He joined Ace as she hesitated by the door, gently removing her fingers from the handle. "I really wish you'd stay." He brought her hand up and turned it over to kiss the palm. The panic in her eyes was met by the sorrow in his own. "I just--I don't want to be alone tonight."

Ace stared up at his eyes. Really, she thought distractedly, no one should be allowed to have eyes that blue. Even Time Lords. _Especially_ Time Lords, she corrected herself. Especially young, healthy, attractive Time Lords..."Ah, what the hell," she mumbled, darting her head forward suddenly to plant a kiss directly on his lips. Kyris was startled, but only for a moment. He pulled her closer, his arms encircling her as he returned the kiss. Ace pressed her body against his, marveling at how comfortable she felt in his arms, as if she belonged there. Desire was new to her, but not completely unknown; she realized now she'd been feeling it since she first laid eyes on Kyris. The vague sense of unease was gone, replaced by the serenity of knowing what--or rather, who--she wanted.

Not that it was any of his business, but she hoped the Doctor would understand.

**oOo**

Ace yawned her way awake the next morning, then froze as she realized she wasn't alone in the narrow bed. It took her a moment to remember, and a smile crept across her face as she turned to look at Kyris, still sleeping, blankets tangled around his legs and dark hair falling across his eyes. She turned carefully on her side, not wanting to wake him, but as she moved his eyes flashed open and met hers. He smiled back at her, reaching out to brush her own tangle of brown hair away from her face. "Morning."

"Morning," Ace repeated, nestling down next to him. He obligingly moved his arms and scooted himself towards the wall to better accommodate her. "Sleep well?"

"Better than in a long time," Kyris admitted. "Better than I expected to. You?"

"Same here. Slept well, I mean," Ace corrected herself. "Never been one to lose sleep, no matter what's going on."

Kyris leaned over to plant a kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Time for us to get up, I think."

Ace closed her eyes and groaned. "I'm comfortable," she protested. "Just a little longer?"

Kyris chuckled and nudged her shoulder with his forehead. "Better not. My father tapped on the door a few minutes ago and said something about dematerializing, but I haven't felt the TARDIS move yet, so..."

Ace scrambled out of bed with a yelp, scooping up her clothes in a mad dash. "Why didn't you tell me the Professor was by?"

Kyris half-rose on his elbows, bemused and entertained as Ace shrugged into yesterday's sweats, balling her underwear up and stuffing it into the front pocket of the pullover top, yanking her hair back into a sloppy ponytail and hopping first on one foot, then the other, as she pulled her stockings on. "Why the panic?" He was honestly bewildered by her reaction.

"If he's been by here, then he's been by my room and probably knows I wasn't there," Ace explained, distracted by the hunt for her bra. Ah, there it was. It joined the underwear, an unnoticed strap dangling from the pocket as she slid into her shoes.

"So?" Kyris stared at her, puzzled. "You're of age, right? Over 18, isn't it?"

Ace stopped fidgeting with her hair and stood still for a moment, considering. Why was she panicking? "Yeah, of course, and so are you, right? Of age for a Time Lord?" He nodded, sitting up fully and reaching for his own white sweatpants, identical to hers. "Course you are," Ace muttered, mostly to herself.

"Has my father rules about that sort of thing? About personal conduct on the TARDIS?" Kyris raised an eyebrow at the idea of the Doctor having a "not while you're living under my roof" attitude towards his companions' personal lives.

Ace flushed and shook her head. "Sex on the TARDIS isn't exactly a subject that's ever come up. Any chappies I fancied I met outside, on the sly." She flushed even redder and ducked her head. "Not to sneak around so much as because it wasn't any of his business. And not that there were all that many," she mumbled.

Kyris walked over and took her in his arms. She resisted for a moment, not used to accepting comfort this way, then relaxed in his hold and let him lean his forehead against hers. "Not for me, either," Kyris said softly. Later, maybe, he'd tell her she was his first. If her reactions were anything to go by, he hadn't done half bad, but he looked forward to improving his technique. He pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss that she returned eagerly. After an enjoyable moment, she pushed herself lightly away. Time to get down to business, if the Doctor was dematerializing soon.

"Time enough for showers, I reckon," she said as she headed for the door. Kyris caught her hand and she stopped as he kissed her palm. She fought a pleasurable shiver, flipped him a shy smile over her shoulder and fled.

**oOo**

Ace slipped into her room and shed her dirty clothes. As expected, her own clothing lay neatly folded on her dresser. She tossed the sweats into a hamper and jumped into the shower, deliberately avoiding thoughts about the latest complication in her already complicated life. That lasted all of five seconds before he drifted back into her mind. Who did she think she was kidding, anyway? He was all she could think about. Kyris "Smith." The Doctor's son. The chap she'd slept with, and was definitely interested in sleeping with again. And again, and again...she closed her eyes against the heat of the water, not sure if she should allow herself to feel this...happy. Not with so much death and destruction and the Master after them; surely it was wrong to feel so buoyant under these circumstances? To feel as if she could fly?

She deliberately set the water temp colder, as much to cool her thoughts as her over-heated body. Her lightness of spirt seemed especially out of place since she knew very well that her own head was on the chopping block. If the Master got his hands on her, she had no doubt that he would kill her. One companion for every Doctor, and she was this Doctor's companion, second and onliest since Mel had been killed in twisted honor of the Doctor's sixth self.

Thinking of Mel dimmed the buoyancy of her spirit; thinking of her own mortality, not so much. She'd been aware of her own precarious position since listening to the death list in Dr. Sullivan's office, what? Only yesterday, subjective personal and objective TARDIS time. Oh, she knew, all right, and so did the Doctor and Kyris, only none of them had brought it up and, she knew, none of them would. Just as the Doctor knew the Master was setting up a trap, so did they all know that he would continue the killings, just for the sheer symmetry of it. And to make the Doctor suffer even more. He wanted the data chip, the mobile data whatsis, but he also wanted to hurt the Doctor. She could live with it, the idea that someone specifically wanted her dead, Ace decided. Or, she thought with a burst of gallows humor, not live with it, as the case might be.

Five minutes later she headed out her door, hesitating briefly before turning for the console room without stopping by to see if Kyris was ready. Better to meet up separately. In case the Doctor hadn't realized she wasn't in her room. She still felt it wasn't any of his business where she was sleeping, but the vague sense of guilt wasn't completely quashed by that reasoning. He was the most fatherly figure she'd ever had in her life, poor role model though many might consider him, and she wasn't quite ready to push her maturity in his face. She had an uneasy feeling he wasn't ready for that, either.

_Gradually_, she decided. _We'll get him used to the idea of us together gradually._

**oOo**

Kyris grinned as Ace fled--yes, fled--his room. Not in a panic or out of fear or regret, he knew, just out of uncertainty. Uncertainty about herself, if he read her right, as much as about him. They both knew this wasn't just some casual thing, that they'd shared something special. If that made her nervous, then fine; he was patient.

He jumped up from the edge of the bed and automatically opened the dresser drawer, checking himself as he remembered he'd left his own clothes at the pool last night. But when he looked down, to see if there might be something more appropriate than a pair of sweats, he was surprised to see not only his own clothing, but other things as well, things that looked as if they might fit him. He held up a t-shirt and laughed out loud. "Cheeky thing!" he called out to the TARDIS as he tossed the shirt and some jeans over his arm. A black t-shirt with a large yellow question mark had been provided for him, along with jeans and socks, underwear, everything he'd need. He didn't bother trying anything on; if he read the TARDIS correctly, everything would be a perfect fit. "Stop trying to cozy up to me," he muttered, stifling a grin as he headed for the shower. "You had me at hello and you bloody well know it."

It was true, too; even in grieving for his mother and through the haze of hating his father, he'd felt nothing but welcome from the TARDIS the moment he set foot inside her.

That, he decided as he turned the water on and tested the temperature, was part of the reason he'd warmed up to his father so quickly. The TARDIS felt like home, no two ways about, which made him that much more willing to go easy on the Doctor. His father had been right, after all; the non-communication had gone both ways, and Kyris had always known his mother was content to leave it that way. She'd only gone to his father for help because she had to, and it wasn't because she disliked the man. _"Mom, you were just way too stubborn."_

With that thought, Kyris deliberately pushed his feelings about his parents aside. Not avoiding them so much as choosing to revel in less complicated ones. A smile spread across his face as he allowed his mind to drift back to Ace. No preconceptions, no opinions to be rethought, not about her. He felt just as comfortable with her as he did the TARDIS. More, maybe.

Dwelling on Ace took him through his quick shower, hasty drying and dressing and a quick scrub of his teeth-- toothbrush thoughtfully provided by the TARDIS, of course--and into the hall. He rapped softly on Ace's door, but there was no response. He ducked his head inside, grinning at the sight of white sweats tossed to land wherever they might and called her name. Still no response; she must have already headed for the console room, no doubt to pester the Doctor as to their next destination.

Kyris closed the door with a frown. Where _were_ they going? Finding the Master was their main concern, but he could be literally anywhere and anywhen. The Doctor's certainty that he wanted to be found didn't preclude a game of hide and seek first, if the Master were so inclined. He'd certainly toyed with the Tharils and his mother in E-Space before finally pouncing...

With a troubled frown still creasing his brow, Kyris continued down the corridor, staring in surprise as he realized his feet had taken him, not to the console room, but to his father's bedroom. Glancing around uneasily, he rapped on the door, pushing it open when there was no response. "Hallo?" he called out as he stuck his head in and looked around.

As expected, his father wasn't there. But of course he wasn't; hadn't he already come by and said he was going to dematerialize the TARDIS? So why had Kyris' subconscious led him here? Or was it the TARDIS? He looked up suspiciously. "Now look you, no planting ideas in my head. If you wanted me to come here, then just say so." As expected, there was no response. But he continued into the room, reluctantly, feeling like an intruder on his father's privacy. This was his personal space, as much as a TARDIS could be said to have personal spaces, and even though the TARDIS held the stamp of the Doctor's many personalities, this room would be the actual center where he could be himself--whichever self that happened to be at any given moment, Kyris thought with a burst of humor.

The humor died as he glanced at the bedside table. For some reason, the Doctor had left the data retriever sitting there; had it been forgotten in haste or deliberately left behind? Somehow Kyris doubted the latter possibility; his father had been too possessive of it since Kyris had handed it to him. Too aware of its potential.

Kyris hesitated only a moment before scooping it up and heading for the door, but his steps slowed as he passed the reader. He hadn't checked on anyone recently, and didn't know if the Doctor had been up to it or not; it was an emotionally grueling exercise no matter how much you tried to brace yourself, and the Doctor had seemed oddly fragile since seeing Sarah Jane off into Harry's capable hands. Or maybe, Kyris thought, he was just projecting his own emotional state onto his father. Either way, he decided, he'd better have a look. Just to be safe. He put the disk in the reader.


	11. Epiphanies

Some impulse prompted him to check on Ace. Intellectually he knew she was fine; they were on the TARDIS, she'd gone to the console room to harangue the Doctor, nothing could go wrong... But something, some instinct, propelled his motions. He punched in Ace's name. Pressed a final button (so archaic, this TARDIS, to still have buttons and levers). Waited. Scanned the results.

Paled. Looked again. Whitened further.

Turned and headed for the console room at a steady, ground-eating pace. Not panicked, no; not running, not skidding down the corridors, careening off the walls, breathing heavily. Just...walking. Quickly. No hint of his emotions on his face now, only determination. Even his color had returned. He knew anyone looking at him would think he was in a hurry, but nothing else would give him away. That was how he needed it to be, when he caught up with them. If they were still in the console room, as he hoped they weren't.

"You made it so it crossed the time streams, Mother, it shouldn't work that way," he might have been heard to mutter to himself as he walked. "I shouldn't have been able to see her future, not now. Never mind access to the matrix, that capability alone makes this the most dangerous toy you've ever tinkered together. What were you thinking?" He raised his voice, briefly, in frustration, noted with surprise that his fists were clenched, his teeth grinding. So much for not letting anyone know he was upset. Hard to keep that secret anyway, not from the TARDIS and through her, his father.

He paused, hesitating, uncertain, as he realized he'd left the disk in the reader. Should he go back and remove it, take it with him? No, too dangerous; he couldn't have it with him when...well, when. He'd just have to risk the Doctor figuring out what he'd seen, and hope his father had the sense to keep it from Ace. "So much for the future," he whispered bitterly as he started walking again, face resolutely set, mind deliberately focused, emotions pushed aside or down or whichever direction emotions went when the mind purposefully needed them out of the way. He couldn't stop the TARDIS being aware of him, but he could dampen his emotional broadcast.

He had to stop it. Never mind the laws he was breaking, would be breaking; he wasn't an official citizen of Gallifrey and certainly hadn't graduated from the Academy. He'd not even been raised in the same universe, so if anyone damned him for taking the laws of Time into his own hands, so be it. It was too late to save his mother, even at the height of his grief he'd understood that, but the future he'd seen for Ace could and would be prevented.

Even, he thought grimly, if it turned out to be the last thing he did.

**oOo**

"So? Where are we going?"

The Doctor turned with a glare as Ace banged open the interior door to the console room. His snappish response died on his lips at the sight of her. Beggar him if she wasn't positively glowing! A suspicion flashed across his mind, to be just as summarily dismissed as none of his business. If his son and Ace were, er, getting on well, that was all for the best. Whatever happiness could be grasped during this grim situation, he was all for it. Besides, even if he did say so himself, she'd done far worse in the past, and never mind how he wasn't supposed to have known about any of her previous beaus. Some things just couldn't be kept secret, at least not without the active cooperation of the TARDIS. So he answered her instead. "Earth."

Ace grinned, unabashed by his curt response. "Unhelpful, that. Time and exact location on Earth?"

"London," he replied, relenting a little. Hadn't he just told himself not to thumb his nose at happiness? "Late 21st century."

"Is this where the Master is?" A little of Ace's unusually good mood evaporated at the idea of a confrontation with Romana's murderer.

The Doctor shook his head, pressed a lever and tapped lightly on a few random-appearing buttons. "No. Susan." The rotor began its usual up-and-down movement, the grinding noise of dematerialization began, and they were off.

Ace's exclamation of surprised delight was interrupted by Kyris' entrance. Unlike Ace, however, his mood was as grim as the Doctor had ever seen. Not that he'd been anything less than serious since their first meeting, but he'd have thought there might be some lightening of mood, to match Ace's. Especially if the reason for her glow was what the Doctor suspected it was...yes, he saw the way Kyris' expression softened as he glanced at Ace, who grinned back at him with a sparkle in her eyes that had nothing to do with the excitement of meeting Susan.

"We're going to see Susan?" Kyris asked, having caught the last bit of their conversation. His expression was concerned. "D'you think that's wise?"

"The Master has no way of tracking us here," his father replied dismissively. "It's perfectly safe." Faced with identical looks of doubt, he insisted: "No, really, it's safe. We're just going to pop in and warn her."

"What, not try to take her with us?" This time the objection came from Ace.

The Doctor shook his head. "I doubt she'd come with us. Her husband and children--"

"Children? So you've got great-grandkids, then?" Ace was delighted by that for some reason.

The Doctor scowled. "Yes," he replied shortly. "We're getting off topic here." He drew a breath, let it out slowly. "She's in no danger from the Master, not directly or though us, but she needs to know what's happening." His expression grew doubtful. "I haven't been to visit since I left her. I do hope my first self made up for that after the business at Rassilon's Tomb." His gaze went inward as he scoured his memories. "Hmm, that seems to be how I recall it. Yes," he added decisively as he turned toward the door to the outside, "that's how I knew about her children. Two boys and a girl." He paused, on the verge of naming them, arrested by a sudden revelation. Their names...so. Susan must know, even if his own memories were, he now suspected, deliberately spotty.

Oblivious to the Doctor's sudden epiphany, Ace had oh-so-casually moved to stand next to Kyris, her hand seeking his behind cover of the console. He squeezed her fingers lightly, brushed the palm of her hand with his thumb, smiling obliquely as she returned the gesture. "So," Ace said as the Doctor fiddled with the door lever to cover his silence, "shall we?" She indicated the door with her free hand.

"Yes, well, perhaps I'd better see her alone," the Doctor muttered, not looking up at the other two as the rotor ground to a halt. The silence was immediately broken by two voices speaking at once.

"Why can't we meet her?" "Perhaps you're right." Ace stared at Kyris, outraged, pulling her hand away from his as he agreed with his father. "No, really," he insisted. "I mean, it could be awkward." He looked over at the Doctor. "It hasn't escaped me that she must be my daughter. If she's actually your grand-daughter and it wasn't just a courtesy title?" He hadn't thought to ask, before.

The Doctor shook his head "no" at the note of inquiry that entered Kyris' voice, while Ace stood, thunderstruck. Obviously she hadn't bothered to put two and two together. "Susan's your daughter?" she asked, in a small, very un-Acelike voice.

Kyris turned to her with a crooked smile. "She'd have to be, wouldn't she? I mean, think about it." Then, as he realized what Ace was thinking: "Not mine yet," he assured her. "Sometime in my future, but also in the past for us all." He faced his father again, noting the irony of his next words even as he spoke them: "Call me a hypocrite, but I'm not ready to face a grown child I haven't even conceived yet."

"I can certainly sympathize," the Doctor murmured in reply. "I shan't take long, I promise." He opened the door and started out, only to stop as Ace darted around the console to join him.

"I still want to meet her," she said belligerently. The Doctor opened his mouth to voice a further objection, then closed it with a resigned shrug as he realized she wasn't going to allow herself to be left out of this one.

"We'll be back soon," she said, not looking at Kyris. He could tell she was angry, but whether it was because he hadn't brought up the likelihood of his being Susan's father earlier or because she wanted him to go with them, he couldn't tell. More likely a mixture of both, he decided as she followed the Doctor out without a backward glance. But it was just as well. He closed the doors after them and stood for a long moment with his hands on the console and his head bowed. When he finally raised his head, he went straight to work on the TARDIS controls.

He still had Ace's future to prevent.


	12. Suddenly Susan

**London, Late 21st Century**

Ace blinked as the late afternoon sunlight slanted into her eyes, momentarily obscuring her view. She squinted the quiet suburban neighborhood into focus as she followed doggedly after the Doctor, still fuming. She was mostly angry with herself, for not realizing or not wanting to realize that Kyris had to be Susan's some-day father, but she wasn't very happy with him, either.Not only because he refused to even leave the TARDIS, but because obviously her time with him wasn't destined to last, and no girl wants to admit that someone else can take her place. "I hope I'm well off the TARDIS by the time you meet her, whoever she is," she muttered to herself, not caring if the Doctor heard or not. He could sodding well take her words as he wanted, she certainly wasn't going to clarify. Not when she was so confused in her own mind.

The Doctor, however good his hearing, gave no indication that he was listening or even paying attention as he hurried along the sidewalk. "No. 11, No. 11," he muttered to himself, peering at the house numbers as they descended rapidly from No. 27. He'd landed the TARDIS among some trees on the undeveloped hilltop at the far end of a long cul-de-sac. Not exactly out of sight, but discreet. There were children playing further down the road, people driving home or hurrying out for the evening, a few joggers. No one spared them a second glance as they made their way to their destination.

"This doesn't much look like a place the Daleks almost blew up," Ace criticized as she fell into step next to him and gazed around, finally moving out of her own thoughts to take stock of her surroundings. "A bit too tidy and not that different from my century."

"Clean-up was expensive, but Earth's leaders wanted to get things back to normal as quickly as possible; less time for people to think of forming up new types of government," the Doctor replied absently as he stopped at the front gate of No. 11.

It was a modest house, neither larger nor smaller than any of its neighbors, painted the same white as nearly every other house on the street, a matching picket fence in front. "Just like a bloody fairy tale," Ace muttered. This time, it was obvious the Doctor was deliberately ignoring her as he pushed open the gate and stepped onto the neat stone path that led to the front door.

A door that opened as soon as they were in the yard.

Ace had seen pictures, heard stories, but still felt a thrill to be actually meeting the woman who called the Doctor "Grandfather." She looked the same as her images, short dark hair and equally dark eyes, a few years older but still the same woman in the same body. She clutched the door-handle silently as they approached, but the smile on her face was wide and welcoming. "You've finally come!" No need to tell her who was walking toward her; somehow, she knew. Ace wondered if it was a Time Lord thing, but the Doctor's hesitant frown told her otherwise, that he hadn't expected to be, well, _expected_.

Susan's smile faltered as well, then regained full strength as the Doctor enfolded her into a heart-felt hug. "Susan, my dear. It's been too long. Forgive me for not visiting sooner."

"I knew you'd be coming sometime this year, but I wasn't sure when," Susan said as soon as she'd caught her breath. Her eyes were welling with tears, joyful ones, Ace suspected, then her own heart hitched as Susan's gaze caught and held her own. There was something about her, almost familiar, then it was gone as Susan moved past the Doctor and held her hand out to Ace. "You're Ace, aren't you."

Ace took the proffered hand, darting an accusatory glare at the Doctor. "You said you hadn't been to see her!"

"He hasn't," Susan rushed to assure the younger woman. She still held Ace's hand in both her own, rather tightly, Ace noticed suddenly. "At least, not yet. He will later, when I'm much younger." She laughed. "Grammar is so confusing in situations like this, isn't it?" She darted a glance into the hallway revealed by the half-open door. "David's not home yet, he's taken the children to the shops before dinner, we'll have some privacy to talk before they get back," she said in a rush, tugging gently at Ace's hand. The Doctor, his expression somewhere between resigned and amused, indicated that they should proceed him into the house. Susan was still speaking, but Ace still wasn't quite sure what she was talking about. "David knows, of course, I couldn't leave him in the dark about me, but the children are still too young, I don't want to confuse them." She looked over at the Doctor as they followed her into the front parlor. "You understand, don't you?"

The Doctor nodded. "Of course. How much do they know?" Ah, of course. Ace grinned. The question was being answered as to whether or not David knew his wife was an alien.

Susan's smile became strained as she sat on the sofa, pulling Ace to sit next to her. "They know they're different," she said quietly. "They know they're not to talk to anyone but us and Dr. Sullivan about how many hearts they have, but that's about it. They're two, four, and seven, but already ferociously intelligent," she added proudly. "That's them." Pictures on the mantle were indicated and admired by the Doctor, cursorily examined by Ace. Two boys and a girl. She wondered if "Dr. Sullivan" was a descendent of the one she'd met, but now wasn't the time to ask.

"But of course, you're not here for a social visit," Susan said after a moment. She looked back at Ace, who was starting to feel a little uncomfortable; she'd expected to be the one giving Susan all the attention, instead of it being the other way round. "You're here for answers."

"I think I've already discovered some of them," the Doctor replied slowly. He sat down in the chair closest to Susan, taking her free hand in his. Ace realized with a start that Susan hadn't let go of her hand since taking it outside. "Haven't I."

Susan nodded, tears glimmering in her eyes again as she looked at her grandfather. "When this is all...settled, you'll come to me, when I'm about ten. In the capital city on Hyrenia III. To explain things, so that I understand." She glanced hesitantly at Ace.

Ace had had enough. "Right. Explain what things? You know about his memory problems, then?" No sense dancing round the Maypole any longer than they had to. Not with the Master yet to deal with.

"Yes, she does," the Doctor answered for Susan. His voice was gentle. "Tell me, Susan, when I approach you on Hyrenia III, do I warn you not to tell me? Your grandfather?"

She nodded. "You offer to tell my fortune, to read what's in my heart--both of them. The fact that you know I have two intrigues me enough to listen to what you have to tell me."

"This is about Kyris, isn't it." Ace's voice was tight with emotion as she finally pulled her hand free and stood up. "That's why you both don't want to say it. It's about Kyris. Something happens to him." She stepped back as the Doctor also rose, glaring him into silence. "I'm not stupid, even I can work out that Susan wouldn't have been living with your first you if her parents were still around. That's why you didn't want us to come, isn't it? So we wouldn't hear whatever it is Susan's about to say?"

The Doctor hesitated only fractionally before nodding, but Ace noticed and tensed further. Bracing herself. "In a way. Although," he added, "I suspect I was and will be circumspect in the details. Am I right?"

Susan nodded, rising to stand by the fireplace and fiddle with the pictures there. Two tow-headed boys and an older sister with darker hair, all with the same unearthly blue eyes. "You didn't give me many details, no. You only told me what I'd already guessed; that it was necessary to keep me safe. You said my parents loved me and were thinking only of me, that I shouldn't be angry with them or feel abandoned." She paused, her eyes blank as she stared back at her own past, revisiting that moment from her grown-up perspective. "You also told me my grandfather didn't remember what had happened to them, and that it was deliberate. Or at least implied that it was," she corrected herself.

"Which is exactly what I needed to hear from you," the Doctor said. "Good to know my memory wasn't tampered with by an enemy. Thank you." Something about her expression, some flash of worry or uncertainty, caught his attention. "At least, I think that's all I needed. Is there more?"

"You also made me promise not to tell my grandfather I'd seen you. But I blackmailed some information out of you before agreeing."

"The names," the Doctor said, turning to the pictures as well. He walked over and picked the first one up. There was only so much protecting he could do, after all. "David, after his father." Susan nodded, very carefully not looking at Ace as the Doctor picked up the second picture, the younger boy. "Kris, after yours." Another nod as he reached for the third picture. The little girl with the wicked grin. "Dorrie. After your mother."

There was a rushing noise filling Ace's ears, a darkness flooding her vision, and then, nothing.

**oOo**

Up on the hill, quietly and without fanfare, the TARDIS vanished.


	13. A Touch of Hysteria

**oOo**

Ace sat up, disoriented, not comprehending how she came to be lying on Susan's sofa, with a wet cloth pressed to her forehead. Two sets of concerned eyes peered over at her as she swung her feet onto the floor, the cloth clutched in one hand; she didn't know where to put it, wouldn't want to ruin Susan's...The blackness threatened again, but she shook it off. Fainting was for ninnies, for Victorian heroines, and Ace was neither. "Dorrie," she said clearly. Testing. Making sure she'd heard right, that it wasn't her imagination.

Susan nodded, her smile tremulous. "Dorrie. She hates Dorothy, won't let anyone call her that except her father."

"Right. Her father," Ace said her voice flat. "Her father is David Campbell, your husband. Your father is Kyris, the Doctor's son. And you named your kids after your husband and parents. So that means..." She fell silent, unable to say it. Not yet.

The Doctor did it for her. "You are Susan's mother, or will be one day."

"Not for very long." Ace's words spilled out, bitter and resentful as she glared at the Doctor. "It's because of him, isn't it. The Master. Because of this vendetta of his, against you." She hunched her shoulders defensively, moving her glare from the Doctor to her clenched hands. The cloth had fallen, unnoticed, to the gleaming hardwood floor. "Don't tell me it could be anything that makes me give up my baby, that it could be years from now and maybe we can stop it coming out badly, because it didn't so it won't." She pinched her lips together tightly, to hold back to flood of panicked babbling that threatened to break free, the hysteria she felt welling up inside. "I want to go back to the TARDIS now." She stood up, not looking at Susan or the Doctor as she edged toward the front door.

Susan reached out a hand longingly as Ace skirted around them, then let it drop back to her side. The sound of a car in the drive caught their attention. With a sound very like a wail Ace threw open the door and ran up the path, slamming the gate aside with a bang as she disappeared up the street at a stumbling run. Heading for the TARDIS.

The Doctor followed slowly, pain etched into his face as he hugged Susan again. She was trembling, and he kissed her gently on the cheek. "I tried to make her stay on the TARDIS," he said softly. "I knew, because of the children's names, that you knew. So I told you her name was Dorothy, did I, that she preferred Ace?" Susan nodded miserably. The tears had finally spilled over in a silent trickle. "Hmm, how thoughtless of me. This all could have been avoided if I'd only stopped at Dorothy." His smile was sad. "Well, perhaps not. She'd still know, even if you didn't."

Susan took his arm as they headed for the door. Somewhere outside, childish voices rang with laughter. A deeper laugh mixed in, and a door slammed in the back of the house. "I'm sorry if this hurts her, but for me it's been a wonderful gift, to have seen her and met her and spoken to her...Tell her that, when she's ready, will you? And tell Kyris--tell him--" She stopped, unable to voice her feelings, but her grandfather nodded, squeezed her hand, and regretfully let her go. She stayed in the doorway, watching as he disappeared yet again from her life, but not from her memories. Never from there...


	14. Pause for Reflection

**oOo**

_They were finally in the capital city of Hyrenia III, long promised as a spot of vacation, and Susan was glad and grateful for the pause in their travels. Not that she minded wandering about, seeing the Universe with her grandfather, but every now and then a rest, as she jokingly put it, was just what the Doctor ordered. _

_Susan frowned at the thought. Every time she made the joke her grandfather muttered something about being too heavily influenced by Earth, but honestly, he was the one who could never seem to stay away! _

_Susan's frown deepened as she tucked her hair behind her ears. How many times had they been on Earth, anyway? What was the fascination? She supposed it had something to do with her parents, but since her grandfather wouldn't talk about them outside of vague platitudes about it being all for the best, she had no way of judging. "It's not fair," she muttered as she wandered around the crowded bazaar, then put it out of her mind. She'd never known her parents, true, but the Doctor had certainly done his best to give her a fantastic life. Living on the TARDIS was an adventure on its own, and she wanted for nothing. Nothing except the one thing she could never have; her parents._

_It was at this juncture in her thoughts that he'd approached her, the stranger in the colorful clothes with a brolly in one hand and a hat on his head, offering to tell her what was in her heart. Both her hearts. She'd followed him, not down a dark alley or anyplace threatening; she was too wise for that even at the tender age of 10. But off to the side of a bustling plaza, out of the mainstream. People, human and otherwise, moved past them, but they may as well have been alone for all the notice anyone took of them as they seated themselves on a low stone wall._

"_How'd you know about them? My hearts, I mean." Susan was a forthright child, not afraid to speak her mind. Sometimes, her grandfather appreciated that quality in her. Sometimes._

_The oddly familiar stranger sitting next to her certainly seemed to appreciate it; he chuckled as he gazed down at her. She knew what he saw: a skinny little thing, all big dark eyes in a serious face and equally dark hair falling just past her shoulders, wearing a nondescript navy blue jumper and matching boots. Instead of answering her, however, he merely held out his wrist. After a moment's hesitation, she took it. Moved her fingers and held it again._

_A frown creased her forehead. "Two?" Susan tensed. No one was supposed to be chasing them , but you never could tell with Time Lords. At least, so she'd been warned. "I won't tell you where he is," she said, fiercely protective. "I don't care what he did, I won't help you get him back to Gallifrey."_

_His smile was gentle, disarming, and he made no move to stop her as she edged nervously away, ready to bolt, only the intrigue of meeting someone who shared her heritage keeping her there. "I wouldn't dare try to take him back; I'm not that brave. I came here to talk to you, Susan."_

_She stilled. "How'd you know my name?" She hadn't told him._

"_Because I know you."_

"_Do you know my grandfather?"_

_The smiled deepened. "In a way. You see, I am him, a few regenerations down the road." He waited for her reaction._

"_Prove it." The words were defiant, her expression doubtful and suspicious, but she didn't stand up, didn't bolt like a frightened horse. Just waited quietly for him to prove that extraordinary claim._

He'd done it, too, Susan recalled, still standing in the doorway while her noisy family clattered around in the kitchen. He'd reminded her of things no one had witnessed besides she and her grandfather, things that had happened in the privacy of the TARDIS or when they were traveling alone. Occasionally they picked up traveling companions, but none lasted very long, and this man had never been one of them.

His TARDIS key, Susan recalled, had been what finally convinced her. She'd touched it, felt the familiar, unmistakable thrum, and stared at him, wide-eyed, while he explained why he'd broken one of Gallifrey's strictest laws and crossed his own time stream to speak to her. And she'd listened; Susan remembered it as vividly as if it had happened days instead of years ago...

"_What happened to them? Did they die?" Her voice caught on the last word, and she was startled to feel tears gathering behind her eyes. She'd thought herself long resigned to her parents' presumed deaths._

"_I can't tell you what happened to them. Not because I'm trying to protect you, at least not the way you're about to accuse me." She blinked, startled again at the way he seemed to intercept her thoughts. "I have an enemy who is trying very hard to find you, and I wish to make it as difficult as possible for him to do so."_

"_Is that why my grandfather won't tell me what happened to them?" she asked shrewdly._

_He smiled and tapped the head of his brolly. "Partly. And partly because he doesn't know."_

"_How could he not know?" Susan protested. "He's had me since I was a baby. Hasn't he?" she asked as a sudden doubt crept into her mind._

_A doubt the newcomer quickly banished. "Yes, he has. But he knew it would be safer for you if his memories of those times were...not accessible. And so they're not. But he does know one thing: Your parents loved you, they never wanted to leave you."_

_It was the same thing her grandfather had already told her, but hearing it now, from her grandfather's future self, made her finally believe it, in her heart as well as her mind. She'd demanded more details anyway, but he'd refused. "When the time comes, I'll tell you, I promise. When I know everything myself." That had certainly raised her eyebrow, but before she could ask another question, he stood up. "It's about time for me to go." He glanced around. "Perhaps it's best if you keep this meeting to yourself."_

"_You don't want me to tell him, you, about seeing you, him, you?" Susan was young and being raised outside of Gallifrey; she still struggled sometimes with the syntax of time travel. It was especially hard, this time, her first honest-to-goodness paradox._

_He shook his head firmly. "What he doesn't know can't hurt me. Or you. I just want to be sure you understand how important this is, so you'll know what to tell me when my past self sees your future self." He stumbled a little over the grammar himself._

_Her eyes widened at that one. "You've crossed your own time stream and you're going to do it again? Why?"_

"_Because you are very important to me, Susan," he said softly. "You're my family. My only family, no matter which me you're living with. All I know is that I will be coming to see you, when you're much older, and there are some things you'll tell me about this meeting that I'll need to know in order to come back and see you." He frowned. "Bit of a circle, there, but it can't be avoided. But I do need you to avoid telling me about this meeting now, the current me, that is. Your grandfather."_

"_I'm not supposed to keep secrets from him," Susan began doubtfully, then widened her eyes as she saw--and recognized–something in his expression, in the way he held himself. "You can't hypnotize me, not without me being willing; if you're really him, you know that," she warned him. She'd seen that look before, on her grandfather's patrician features, and if she hadn't already been firmly convinced of this stranger's identity, that would certainly have done it._

_The Doctor raised his hands defensively, but a smile hovered around the edges of his mouth and crinkled the corners of his eyes. "I would never attempt such a thing, I promise. So what information shall you wring from me in order to keep your silence?"_

_Susan thought it over carefully, not bothering to ask him to just tell her since he obviously already knew the answer to that question. "I want to know if I'm happy, when you come to see me. If we live somewhere." She looked up at him. "Am I married? Do I have children?" She'd never even considered such a thing before, but suddenly it was the most important thing in the world to know. "You don't have to tell me anything in between, just where I'll be when you come see me. So I'll know it's coming."_

_The Doctor looked at her carefully, then nodded. "Only fair. If all goes as it should, then you will be, let's see, about 36 or 37 years old. You will be married and have three children, named after your husband and parents. I'll see you when your youngest is two," he added, but Susan wasn't to be distracted._

_She regarded him out of skeptical eyes. "Some trick, that, knowing their names, since I haven't met any of 'em yet. Tell me the names. So I'll know for sure."_

_There was hesitation in his eyes now, but she knew she had him. "No hypnotizing," she reminded him, smug in her pre-adolescent superiority. "Just say the names or no deal."_

"_David," he finally capitulated. "Kyris. And Dorothy."_

_Susan wrinkled her nose doubtfully. "Kyris? And Dorothy? Are you sure?" _

"_She goes by Ace." The words slipped out before the Doctor seemed aware of them, to judge by the chagrined expression that followed immediately after he spoke. "And that's all you'll get out of me, young lady." His voice was stern, and Susan didn't bother trying to tease any more information out of him. She already learned far more than she'd dared hope to find out. It wasn't hard to figure out she'd marry someone named David, since Kyris was a Gallifreyan name and she doubted very much she'd ever wind up marrying anyone from her native world. Not if her grandfather had anything to say about it._

_Speaking of whom...she glanced nervously over her shoulder. "I have to get back, I promised to meet Grandfather for lunch and if I'm too much later he'll make me go about with him the whole time we're here." She smiled, a brilliant smile that transformed her solemn features, making her seem, for the first time, her actual age. "Thank you. Even if I never get to be with them, it's nice to have something of my parents."_

"_You're welcome." She'd turned then, impulsively kissing him on the cheek before racing off across the plaza. When she risked a look back, before turning the final corner that would take her completely out of view, he was gone._

_It wasn't until then that she realized he'd only answered her last question. She hesitated, torn between wanting to chase after him and demand to know if she was going to be happy, and not wanting her grandfather to revoke her permission to go about on her own today. In the end, the desire for independence won out; after all, she reasoned, if she ended up with three kids, she must be settled somewhere. Raising one child on the TARDIS was one thing; raising a whole pack was something else altogether, and she couldn't see her grandfather putting up with it. Plus she was married, so that counted for something._

_Comforted by that thought, Susan put thoughts of her grandfather's future self out of her mind and hurried to meet the one who was no doubt impatiently checking his Earth-style watch and muttering to himself about tardiness._

_Her parents loved her, hadn't wanted to give her up but had done so for her safety. She hugged that knowledge to herself, silently reciting three names that would be important in her future._

_David._

_Kyris_

_Dorothy._

Her family.


	15. Ace Unraveling

**oOo**

The TARDIS reappeared just as the Doctor reached the top of the hill. Ace was standing there, had been staring numbly at the place it should have been, and she didn't move, even when it reappeared in front of her eyes. When she heard the Doctor behind her, she stepped aside, waiting silently for him to produce his key, fingers fumbling uneasily before finally finding and pulling it from his jacket pocket.

She continued to wait as the Doctor opened the door, hesitating on the threshold as if he wanted to say something. But she avoided his gaze, merely stood, mute and passive, until he finally stepped inside and called his son's name.

There was no reply. The TARDIS was empty.

**oOo**

There was a note on the console, of course. "_Please don't try to find me. I have to stop all this, once and for all. Kyris._" The Doctor read it out quietly, and just as quietly replaced it where he'd found it.

A few seconds passed in silence, then: "Damn it!"

Ace looked up, startled, as the Doctor's words exploded from his throat, as the Doctor's fist slammed into the console. The note drifted to the floor as he stared at his hand, an expression of mild surprise on his face at the sight of the clenched fist. His gaze turned uncomprehendingly to the note. He let it lie. "Well, it shouldn't be difficult to figure out where he went," the Doctor went on in a quieter voice. As if he hadn't just lost it, right there in the console room. In front of a companion. "All I have to do is find the Master. I don't suppose Kyris was careless enough to leave in his coordinates--no, I thought not," he interrupted himself as he peered at the destination readouts, his voice still rough with a tangle of unidentified emotions. "Ace, would you be so good as to see if he took the data retriever with him? I foolishly left it in the reader."

Without replying, Ace passed out of sight through the interior door of the TARDIS. The Doctor grimly began trying to reconstruct his son's flight path. "Find the Master, find the son," he muttered. "Nothing to it; I've only got all of space and time to look through." His laugh was brittle, bitter and humorless.

Ace returned a few minutes later, as the Doctor was kneeling down to pull the cover off the TARDIS base. "I've got it." She handed it to him.

The Doctor looked up, startled by the iciness of her fingers. "Ace? What's wrong?" A foolish question perhaps, with at least two answers springing immediately to mind, but for once she forwent the sarcasm.

"I know why he left," she said simply. "I saw what he saw, on the disk."

The Doctor slowly straightened from his half-crouch beneath the console. "Tell me."

"He's going to try to stop the Master killing me." The words were matter-of-fact, but he could see the panic struggling in her eyes. "How come that thing can show something like that, when I'm still traveling with you? Isn't that breaking a rule, forbidden or something?"

Shock, he decided. One too many shocks piled up on her at once, all personal. "Yes," he replied as he moved toward her. Slowly. She blinked at him, but didn't stop him when he tucked an arm round her shoulders and steered her out of the console room. "Apparently Romana wanted me to be able to keep an eye on my companions regardless of where they were in my personal time stream. I imagine she modified it after she the Master attacked them in E-Space."

Ace nodded, as if what he said was reasonable, but he could feel her trembling, just the slightest bit, on the verge of true hysteria. Not something he would ever have expected of her, but these were beyond even the extraordinary circumstances in which they were usually immersed. "Ace, I think you should lie down for a bit, try to rest so your mind can process everything that's happened today. D'you think you can do that for me?" He kept his voice calm, even, as if they were discussing the weather of an alien world; one slip into deeper sympathy and over the edge she'd go.

Ace nodded. "Right. A bit of a lie down, that's what I need. Nice to know some problems are fixable." There was no good response to that, so the Doctor wisely kept silent.

Neither spoke the rest of the way to the TARDIS medical center. Ace obediently hopped up onto the diagnostic bed and laid herself on her back when he asked her to, but he could still feel the trembling as he released her shoulders and tucked a blanket around her. Almost he reached for a sedative, but something made him stop. He looked down at her, pupils dilated, teeth clenched, hesitated, then took her icy, fisted hand in his. "Ace, I want to give you something to help you rest, but I need to ask you something first."

"Righty-oh, Professor, what is it?" As a stab at her normal voice, it was a pretty weak one, as weak as the smile she offered. Both voice and smile quickly faded back to blankness.

"It's very personal, and I apologize for even thinking about asking such a thing, but these aren't exactly normal times," he began, only to have Ace interrupt him.

"Yeah, we had sex," she said, her voice uninflected and face expressionless. "Better check to make sure Susan's not already cooking before you go willy-nilly handing out injections." The bravado of her words couldn't quite cover the shake in her voice. She snapped her teeth together tightly and waited, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. Knowing what the answer would be even before the Doctor started rummaging around for whatever medical implement he would need to confirm the truth Ace already knew.

The Doctor opened and slammed shut several drawers before he found the scanner he wanted and made sure it was calibrated correctly. He ran it over Ace's passive form, frowning at the readout before raising his eyes to meet her stoic gaze. "Lemme guess," she said resignedly. "Preggers, am I?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes." He allowed himself to collapse into the room's only chair as Ace turned on her side and faced the wall.

Her muffled voice roused him a few minutes later. "Better get back to looking for Kyris so we can give him the happy news." As if she could feel him hesitating behind her, she rolled back to face him. She was crying, he noted in alarm, but as he stepped forward she slashed the back of her hand across her eyes in an angry motion and shook her head, glaring at him. "Go find him before the Master kills him, too," she said. "Don't worry about me; like you said, I just need some time to process all this." She rolled back on her side, burrowing into the warmth of the blanket, not moving even after he left the room.


	16. Back in Fighting Form

**oOo**

Ace rejoined the Doctor in the console room a few hours later. She'd felt the TARDIS dematerialize, but knew the Doctor hadn't found Kyris; if he had, he'd have let her know. More likely he just wanted to be off Earth, away from Susan. No sense leading the Master to her.

Ace's hands slid across her belly at the thought of Susan. She'd come out of her funk after catching an hour or so of exhausted sleep, uninterrupted by so much as a hint of a dream. The trembling had stopped, the tears had dried, but she still felt cold, numb.

Frightened.

Ace felt a surge of anger as recognized her feelings. That wasn't her, being scared, needing a lie down in the med center, trembling and dazed! She heaped silent vitriol on herself as she drifted to the Doctor's side. He'd glanced over as she came into the room, but kept doing whatever it was he was doing to the console. The base was festooned with wires and unidentifiable gadgets, hodge-podged together in an unholy, Frankensteinian mess. She nodded at it. "Will that help us find him?"

The Doctor glanced at her again, no doubt checking her over for more signs of weakness. Let him look; he'd never find her trembling and frightened like that again. She raised her chin a belligerent notch. No one would. After a moment, his shoulders raised and lowered in an unhelpful shrug. "It might help us locate another TARDIS, which is where I expect we'll find the Master. And if we find him..."

"We find Kyris." A note of uncertain hope surfaced in Ace's voice. "But will he still be alive? Quite a trophy, the Doctor's son, to add to the Master's collection." The hope was crushed under the weight of her bitterness.

The Doctor turned to face her. His jacket and hat lay crumpled on the floor, the tip of his brolly poking out from beneath one wrinkled sleeve. His face was drawn, tight with anxiety, but his voice remained even. "Even more of a trophy for the Master to have in his power the greatest Healer Gallifrey has produced in living or recorded memory," he pointed out. "I imagine that's what Kyris has offered in exchange for our parole. His powers, at the Master's disposal." Some of Ace's bitterness flashed in his eyes and peppered his voice as he added: "Since my old school chum used up all his regenerations and is living in stolen bodies and on stolen time, having someone nearby to assure his continued well-being would be more than slightly tempting."

"More tempting to just take over that body, wouldn't it be?" Ace's throat clogged with panic at the thought. "Then he could have the powers for himself!"

But the Doctor was shaking his head. "No, that would be impossible. It's not just a matter of biology, it has just as much to do with the capabilities of the mind. Even if the Master wanted to cast my son out and take over his body, there's absolutely no way Kyris' powers would become his. He's has been living with these abilities his entire life, whereas the Master would have no time to learn them before they burned out his brain." He didn't sound as if he cared much one way or the other how the Master's brains ended up, but Ace knew he cared how his son did. Cared deeply.

As did she. "Does the Master know this?" The Doctor sounded rock-certain, but Ace was grimly determined to find any loop-hole, any flaw in his logic. She refused to be caught as unawares as had been by the realization that Kyris was Susan's father, let alone the fact that she herself was...she stopped there. It was still difficult for her to equate the older woman she'd just met with the new life growing inside her. Life conceived on the TARDIS and destined to grow up there as well...

"Yes, the Master would know this," the Doctor reassured her. "It's not something I pieced together by myself, you know; it's a known facet of Gallifreyan physiology and, for want of a better term, psychology. The Master will know this and won't hurt Kyris."

"If he has time to tell him what he's offering before the Master attacks." Ace held the Doctor's gaze with her own, and it was he who looked away first. Acknowledging the possibility without giving voice to it.

"He still wants the data retriever," was all he did say. Reminding her that the Master was just as interested in obtaining that as he was anything else Kyris might or might not be able to offer.

"Have you used it yet, to look for Kyris? Romana's magic mirror?" Ace's voice tried to be casual.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not yet. But I will." He pulled it reluctantly out of his pocket. No more leaving it behind. Not with such devastating consequences for such a simple slip of his attention.

"When?"

The Doctor held her gaze. When he spoke, he only slightly changed the subject. "You realize I may very will still have to track him anyway. If he's in the Master's TARDIS..."

"Yeah, I get it, we still won't necessarily know where or when it is," Ace replied impatiently. "Just put it in and find out, will you? We need to know."

The Doctor slid the disk into the reader. They both knew his hesitation had nothing to do with uncertainty as to Kyris' whereabouts and everything to do with what state they'd find him in. "Ace, if you wouldn't mind, perhaps you'd better let me do this alone. In case..."

A glance at her stubbornly-set features told him how useless it would be to try and spare her anything unpleasant. "No," she said, flatly. "Don't worry, my frail flower days are done and past, Professor. No matter what else that thing shows us, you won't find me fainting in the med center. Just get on with it." Her expression told him she'd already considered the possibility of what they might see, and she was braced for it.

Before he could depress the button, however, Ace spoke again. "Will we be able to use that to check on Susan?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied. Again he reached for the button, again Ace interrupted.

"So if the Master gets this he can find her. Or if he forces Kyris to tell him, or if he figures out some way to follow us?" The panic was threatening to return, but Ace grimly tamped it down.

The Doctor reached out, but not for the button. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We won't let him have this, Ace," he said softly. "Not ever. It's far too dangerous for far too many reasons, not just because he could locate Susan with it. As for following us, we weren't on Earth long enough for him to trace the TARDIS. And even if he did..." He hesitated, looking Ace over thoroughly before committing to his next words. She seemed more in control, more like her normal self, but still fragile, at least to his eyes. Ready to kick the crap out of the next person who looked at her crosswise, as she might herself put it, but still fragile. Nevertheless, this news might actually be a relief to her, so he plunged on. "Even if he did, he'd never be able to hurt Susan."

"Why not?" Something in his voice alerted her; Ace tensed. Whatever he was about to say next was important, and not just for this moment in time.

"Susan was conceived on the TARDIS. Not only that, but Kyris has a connection to the TARDIS even stronger than the one I have, probably because of his healing abilities. Susan seems to have that connection as well, although on a more unconscious level. And that has always served as a type of protection for her. I just didn't realize why, until now," he added reflectively.

"What, she's never been in danger while traveling with you, is that it?" Ace's voice was skeptical.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, of course not. But she's always managed to come though with little more than a few scratches and a good scare."

"So have I." The skepticism was mounting.

"Think of her as having been conceived in a state of Temporal Grace," the Doctor attempted, but Ace's scowl grew even darker, if that were possible.

She raised a hand. "OK, Doc, that's enough. If you say the Master can't find Susan without the disk--"

"Or the Time Scoop, which was destroyed long before I met you," the Doctor added, then closed his mouth with a snap as Ace glared at him.

"Whatever," she replied through gritted teeth. "Look, I know you're trying to make me feel better, but it isn't working."

He attempted to explain one last time, even if he couldn't clarify something that was as much an intuited belief as anything else. "The state of temporal grace that exists on the TARDIS extends to Susan. It's a sort of protection for her, made stronger by the fact that she grew up on the TARDIS as well as being conceived here." That was the best he could do; he hoped it would be enough.

Ace's frown eased. "So it doesn't have to be something bad that takes her away from us," she whispered, afraid to say the words too loudly, in case some malign influence was listening for just this sort of hopeful thought. "It could just be to protect her now, when she needs it most, when the Master wants to kill her personally. We could send her back to your first self so she builds up this connection without being in immediate danger from that bastard."

"That's possible," the Doctor conceded, but he had his doubts and Ace could hear them bubbling behind his words. But he didn't voice them, and for that she was grateful. For the one shred of hope he allowed her, she would love him the rest of her life even if she'd didn't already. Uncle, father, big brother all rolled into one, and she knew he would do whatever he could to protect not only her baby, but herself and the baby's father as well.

"Right, then," she said. "Let me know when we find them." Not _if_, never _if_. They would find them, rescue Kyris and take care of the Master, at least trap him or exile him, keep him from carrying out his deadly revenge long enough for Susan to be born and sent away to safety.

Without admitting it, Ace knew that her belief in that scenario was the only thing standing between her and the yawning abyss of despair she'd almost tumbled into.

And, she suspected, for the Doctor as well.

She watched intently as he depressed the button.


	17. Fair Trade

**oOo**

Kyris was tired of being a prisoner, but had to admit it was better than being dead.

The first thing the Master had tried, of course, was to kill him. Still, Kyris had been surprised and even a little outraged at that reaction; what if he, Kyris, was the only one who knew where the data retriever was? Or Susan? It was very shortsighted of the Master, but he seemed to have been rattled by Kyris' unexpected appearance. The Doctor he'd been prepared for, but apparently not his son.

It had taken a lot of shouting and dodging, but finally Kyris had gotten the Master to understand the benefits of keeping him alive. He'd done that in the most expeditious way possible, by simply standing there and allowing the Master to see him heal himself of the wounds that had been inflicted on various parts of his body.

He'd watched, the gun dangling slackly the only indication of his astonishment, his face as stony as ever Kyris had seen. Then he'd spoken. "What do you want, boy?"

Kyris ignored the tone, ignored the fact that this man had murdered his mother ten times over, ignored what he'd seen on the reader screen, ignored everything except his need to keep Ace and his father alive. "I want to trade, of course. My life, my abilities, for theirs."

The gun slipped out of the Master's loosened grasp and fell to the floor with a clatter. They both ignored it as the Master took a step closer, staring intently into Kyris' eyes. "What's to stop me from agreeing and then doing as I wish once you are in my power?"

Kyris met his gaze coolly. "Because I won't ever be in 'your power.'" A hint of a sneer crept into his voice. "Because at the first sign of betrayal, I'll kill you; barring that, I'll burn myself out at the most inopportune moment and let you die when I could have saved you." He meant it, every word, the Master had no doubts.

"And if I do not betray you?" The Master's very posture spoke of his doubt as to that outcome, but Kyris chose to take the words at face value. He'd handle the Master's inevitable attempt to circumvent the deal when it came.

"Then my abilities are at your disposal." There. The deal was offered. If it wasn't something the Master was interested in, he was as good as dead. If it was...

"What makes you think your abilities are something I want?" Not need, never need; the Master would never admit to needing anything.

"Because you've burned out your old body and had to resort to stealing a new one. One that doesn't regenerate. You'll be forced to steal another one, sooner or later. I can make that later a lot further into the future than you expected." Kyris waited for the threat, but it never came; apparently the Master knew enough about the old legends not to attempt to steal Kyris' body for his own.

"And the little bauble Romana made as a gift for your father?"

Kyris had expected that question, but not necessarily the hitch of pain he felt, hearing the Master mention his mother so casually. He ignored it as best he could. "He destroyed it." _Believe the lie_, he willed, silently, urgently. _Believe the lie because of the truth of my offer._

The Master picked up the weapon with an abrupt motion, and Kyris went very still. But the outlaw merely turned and headed for his TARDIS, not even bothering to see if Kyris was following. Which he did, after allowing himself a brief moment to wipe the sweat away from his eyes, to work off the trembling in his limbs and slow the flutter of his hearts.

He allowed himself another moment, hesitating in the doorway to the Master's TARDIS, looking out at the peaceful French landscape, knowing that it might be the last time he ever looked at Earth, his daughter's home, his father's favorite place, knowing he might never be welcome there again. Not after helping the Master; even if he did nothing but keep his father's enemy alive, he was just as culpable for any crimes the renegade might commit. With a sigh, he turned and followed, closing the door softly behind him.

With a flash of light and sound, the TARDIS, disguised as an oversized statue of Venus, vanished.

That had been what, two, three weeks subjective time ago? Hard to tell, imprisoned as he was in a small bed-and-bath suite deep in the TARDIS interior. The Master made sure he was adequately fed, but so far had made no demands on him, required no further demonstrations or performed any tests. Nor had he allowed Kyris any sign of where in the continuum they might be, but he hadn't sensed the small quiver this TARDIS made when it landed.

Not that he could tell very much about the Master's machine; not only was it more subtle than his father's, it was also attuned to the Master and thus inimical to himself. He'd tried a tentative attempt at linking, at communication, only to be abruptly and painfully shut out.

With nothing else to do except wait, Kyris constructed a vividly realized image of Ace in his mind. Sometimes she was drowsing next to him on his bed, sometimes her eyes flashed fire as she stormed out of the TARDIS, sometimes she was laughing, depending on how guilty he was feeling about tricking her and his father.

He frowned as his father replaced Ace momentarily in his mind's eye, his form quivering into place over hers until she disappeared and he was left facing his father's mildly inquisitive gaze.

He couldn't bear to see it for long, even in his own mind; where Ace was a comfort, his father only brought him slamming back to reality. A reality he'd willingly committed himself to, but nevertheless a reality which was nothing like the one he'd envisioned since letting himself become entangled with Ace. "Don't try to find me," he whispered. The clues he'd used to find the Master would be, should be useless to his father now, since they'd moved away from that place. It was comforting, to at least know that future wouldn't happen.

The door to his room abruptly slammed open, and he jumped warily to his feet. He'd been sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the bed, and he felt the stiffness that told him he'd been sitting there for many hours, unaware of the passage of time.

"It seems I might not have a choice in whether or not I keep our bargain."

Kyris stared, uncomprehending, as the Master gestured him out of the room impatiently. "What do you mean?" But he had a sinking sensation in his stomach that matched the hardness behind the Master's dark eyes.

"It seems they've managed to follow us, somehow, to find us. Your father and his latest companion, Ace, is it? They're here." The Master studied his willing captive's stunned face and decided he honestly wasn't expecting them, that this wasn't part of some elaborate trap. Not that he trusted the boy, but he'd not tried to escape, not once, and the Master's attempts to locate any kind of a homing device had come up empty. However, here they were, and thus needed to be dealt with, one way or another. He'd regret losing Kyris' intriguing abilities, but he'd managed without them thus far and had no doubt he'd continue to manage without them if he was forced to take care of the Doctor, and Kyris made good on his threats. Either way, he mused as he strode toward the console room, he got something he wanted. Better to get everything he wanted, but thus far he hadn't come up with a way for that to happen, and so he was content to see which coveted outcome he did get.


	18. Cultivating Patience

**The TARDIS**

Ace was four months pregnant before they found a single clue that could lead them to Kyris.

She wasn't showing, not much, not as much as she'd expected to be. She hadn't been around many pregnant women, but she had a an idea that four months was when bellies started to pop out. A cousin had been pregnant, when she was still too small to really understand, and she vaguely remembered being allowed to touch the bump under the girl's loose top she skeptically refused to believe was going to turn into a baby.

The Doctor was no help at all. The medical scanners reported that she was in perfect health, the baby--a girl, as if there were any doubt--was in perfect health, so the Doctor couldn't seem to grasp Ace's concerns. Oh, he understood her main worries, the ones that troubled her from outside her own body, the frustrating search for the Master and Kyris, but he didn't or wouldn't understand her more personal worries. Who would help her, when the time came? Was the baby to be born on the TARDIS, with the Doctor (and, hope whispered, Kyris) her only attendants? Call her sexist, but Ace discovered she desperately wanted a female presence in her life, preferably human. Someone to reassure her, or at least help her understand exactly what she was going to be going through in another, what? Five months?

That was another area where the Doctor was frustratingly vague, the length of Gallifreyan pregnancies. It had been so long since anyone from Gallifrey had actually given birth, Romana notwithstanding, that even the TARDIS database was silent on the subject. When Ace tentatively suggested linking the data reader to the Gallifreyan computers, the Doctor had nearly pinned her ears back with his blistering retort: "A fine reason to be sneaking around the Matrix, rendering it vulnerable, so you can find out if you'll be having a slightly longer or slightly shorter pregnancy!" The Scottish burr in his voice became more pronounced the more indignant he became; contrarily, Ace found it soothing. "The baby's fine and so are you, no toxicity or birth defects, you're well past the little bit of morning sickness you had, so please don't suggest such a thing again in my hearing."

That had been a month ago. He'd gone off, muttering, and she glimpsed his own concerns even as she obstinately refused to believe what she'd asked had been as dangerous as his reaction suggested. Nothing took precedence in her mind over finding Kyris and keeping her baby, Susan, safe.

She peered down at her stomach, trying to see if the tiny bulge had gotten any bigger since the last time she looked at it, oh, roughly five minutes ago. Still nothing. She cupped her hand over it anyway. "At least I don't have to worry about what to name you," she said wryly. If she did have a choice, she knew what she'd pick: Patience. Old-fashioned, yes, but a good way to remind herself of one of her own faults and her desire to correct it. Pilgrims, she remembered, had named their children for the virtues they wanted to them to possess. Of course, from what she'd seen, Susan wasn't lacking for that particular virtue.

She deliberately turned her thoughts away from the grown woman she'd already met and back to the baby that was still sleeping inside herself. She'd spent the bulk of the last four months stamping down hard on panic, weeding it methodically from her thoughts, only to have it pop back up in her dreams. As his one concession to easing her mind, the Doctor gave her a baby book he dug up from who-knew-where. When Ace read that vivid nightmares were part and parcel of pregnancy, she tossed the book into the nearest unused room, wishing heartily for a fireplace or open window instead. Its condescending tone was infuriating.

The nightmares weren't so much about her own inexperience, she knew, as they were about their lack of success in finding Kyris. The longer it took, the less likely they were to find him, Ace knew it but kept chasing the thoughts away. Like a spider it kept spinning new webs in her mind until she felt as tightly bound as any unfortunate insect.

When that happened, when things became unbearable inside her own head, she roamed the TARDIS corridors, opening every door she passed and investigating any that took her fancy. When she inevitably began to tire, she'd suddenly find herself in the corridor outside her own room. At first it had irritated her, but then she'd become reluctantly grateful as she realized how much easier her days were when she was able to catch a short nap. Not that she completely believed in the TARDIS' intelligence, at least not as she in her restrictive, human way defined it, but she knew this was another way of protecting Susan and so she tolerated the coddling.

It was during one of these long rambles that took her everywhere but where she most wanted to be that the Doctor appeared unexpectedly, panting a little as if he'd been running. "I think I've located them."

Ace didn't need any more than that. She immediately followed the Doctor to the control room, sensing that he kept his pace down out of concern for her, that he wanted to be sprinting instead of jogging. She tamped down on her resentment, knowing there was no getting about it; pregnancy slowed a girl up like nothing else, even this early, even barely showing in her tightest outfit and not at all under her baggy baseball jacket. She hadn't worn it in years, the patch-covered thing, but had dug it out the afternoon Kyris disappeared, after her breakdown. Another thing to resent, that; another reason to keep her panic under control. She would admit to no fear, not to the Doctor and not to herself. If the TARDIS sensed it in her, it wisely kept its opinion to itself.

Even though Romana's toy had led them to this situation, she was still grateful for it. Once the Doctor had checked and found Kyris, alive and well and being left alone on the Master's TARDIS, he'd used the small device to fine-tune his cobbled-together attempt at a TARDIS tracker. The reader was temporarily welded to the console's base, sticking out oddly and startling her every time she saw it; it was so out of place, and made the console look more pregnant than she did. "Where are they?" she demanded as soon as they entered the console room. "How's Kyris?"

That was her morning question when she woke up, the question she asked at meals and before she fell into bed at night. She knew the Doctor checked frequently, but she never caught him at it. He refused to let her look after the first time, citing a concern for her and the baby should anything unpleasant be viewed. He stubbornly refused to show her anything regarding her own future, the one Kyris had left on the reader when he left or any other, and claimed he wasn't even checking it himself. "There'll be time enough for that when it comes," had been and remained his unhelpful answer.

This question, however, he didn't bother to avoid. "Kyris appears to be in good health. I managed to pinpoint where they were when Kyris found the Master--Earth, in case you're interested. France."

Where it had began for them, and ended for Romana. Ace didn't bother to mention what the Doctor already knew. "Are they still there? Earth?" Her voice rose anxiously in spite of her attempts to appear under control.

The Doctor glanced at her sharply, but she forced her face into a featureless mask, a copy of the bland look he cast on her so often. She thought she saw a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, just for a moment, before he answered her. "Of course. I told you the Master wanted me to find him. Even with Kyris offering himself and his abilities up in trade, he would never abandon his plan. He wants it all; revenge and Kyris' healing abilities, and I'm sure he thinks he's got a plan to ensure both."

"Well, then I guess we'd better work on being the best damn flies in the ointment the universe has ever spit out," Ace replied. She dug her hands into her pockets just to keep them from hovering protectively over her abdomen. "Let's get him home, Doctor."


	19. Plans Awry

**The Master's TARDIS**

The Master had never been very good at dealing with setbacks, and this was no exception.

Kyris, continuing his docility, followed him as ordered to the console room to await developments. Whether he was joining the Master as hostage, shield, bait or just so his father's enemy wouldn't have to be alone, he didn't know and didn't care.

In spite of his precautions, they'd tracked him down. Followed him. Found him.

It wasn't at all as he'd expected things to turn out.

The Master glanced over at his captive, frowning at the hint of a smile on the boy's mouth. Habitual suspicion forced the words out of him: "Don't expect them to come to the rescue. No matter what you've got planned, it won't work."

A stab in the dark, that; Kyris knew what the Master didn't, that there was nothing planned, at least on his part. He rashly allowed the smile to stretch into visibility, then drew it back into his mouth along with his breath as he suddenly realized the point in time he now faced.

_Ace, lying on the floor, clutching a bleeding stomach. Kyris, unconscious, unable to help as the life trickled out of her while the Master and the Doctor wrestled grimly in the background._

Ace, lying on this very floor, dying, and now look what his actions had brought them to: the set up for that moment. Kyris cursed himself ten times over for a fool, tensed to rush the Master and found himself facing the muzzle of a deadly looking weapon. "Don't even try it. Your abilities aren't worth as much to me as my own life. If you so much as twitch, I will kill you." His own mockery of a smile passed briefly across the Master's lips. "I'll regret it, no doubt, but I will do it."

Kyris subsided, helpless. He would gladly sacrifice his life if it would change the future he'd seen, but the Master would shoot him down mercilessly, then wait for the Doctor and Ace to appear and, no doubt, do the same to them. Dead, Kyris would be useless. Even more useless than the unconscious idiot he saw, again and again in his mind's eye, lying on the floor, chest going in and out, breathing, but useless while Ace bled to death beside him.

He would prevent that scenario at all costs.

Kyris braced himself as the Master landed the TARDIS. "He'll hound me to the farthest corners of the Universe," the Master said by way of off-hand explanation. "I prefer to choose the time and place of any confrontation." There was a lecturing quality to his voice. As if Kyris were a student interested in the Master's thought processes.

As if he heard Kyris' thoughts, the Master flashed him a sardonic smile. "Don't worry, right now I just intend to talk to him." But the promise of violence was there, in his eyes, in the gun he still held tightly clenched in one hand, in the anticipatory curl of his lips.

Kyris was not reassured.

**oOo**

Pounding on the door. A muffled demand for entry. The Doctor's unmistakable voice raised in query. "Kyris? Are you all right?"

Kyris started to respond, subsiding only as the Master waggled the gun in an "ah-ah-ah" gesture and motioned him to the back of the console room. He seemed to be considering strategies, but whatever his thought processes, in the end he merely reached over and opened the door. "Do come in, Doctor, no need to pound; I've been expecting you."

The Doctor cautiously poked his head in, zeroing in immediately on Kyris. A relieved smile appeared and disappeared so quickly Kyris wondered if he'd imagined it. Then his father's glance moved to the Master. "Well, I see you've not harmed him."

"On the contrary, my dear Doctor; I did my best to kill him. Interestingly, he healed himself before my eyes and offered me a bargain."

"Of course he did," the Doctor murmured. "Now it's my turn to do the same."

The Master's eyebrow rose. "Really? How predictable."

"Dad, no!" Kyris shouted before he could stop himself. Once again the Master's weapon swung around, this time to his father.

"This is growing tiresome," the Master growled. "Kyris has offered himself as my personal physician, so to speak; what could you offer that I might want more?"

_Not the disk_, Kyris thought urgently, willing his father to hear him, somehow. If the Master found out he'd been lying about its destruction, he would begin to doubt Kyris' other words, the ones he meant, and that would be disastrous for them all.

"I offer myself, as you no doubt surmised," the Doctor replied. His voice was calm, even. Unemotional. "I'm who you really want. You got my attention by killing my former traveling companions and Romana, and so I'm here. Where you want me."

The Master studied him. "Really. How...convenient. And tell me, Doctor; what's to keep me from killing you and then killing your son and companion right after?"

"That'd be me, actually."

Ace had slipped in behind the Doctor, waiting for him to move away from the still-open door while keeping the Master's attention firmly on himself. It had worked brilliantly; Ace now had the drop on the Master with a more conventional weapon than the slender black tube he held.

It wasn't the plan, of course, at least, not the Doctor's plan. That plan had involved him bargaining with the Master for Kyris' freedom, at least stalling so he could get his son away and hopefully do something about the Master as well; Ace wasn't sure, as she hadn't really listened when he first explained it to her, knowing it was doomed to fail. She knew what she was going to do, never mind the Doctor's attempts to keep her and the baby safe. She knew he'd asked her to wait in the TARDIS, to which she'd cheerfully--and untruthfully--agreed.

Now her plan was the one going forward. Ace pulled back on the hammer slowly. Making sure the Master saw her do it, so he'd know she wasn't bluffing. She ignored the Doctor's exhortations to leave, Kyris' demands to the same effect. The Master was a threat; he was a murderer many times over, and he wanted her baby. There was no way in hell she was going to let him get away with any of it. Her finger tightened on the trigger.

Never one to give in gracefully to the inevitable, he aimed his own weapon at Kyris and fired even as Ace's bullets slammed into first his shoulder, then his side, then, ultimately, his chest. He breathed his last as Kyris healed himself, then joined her and the Doctor as they returned to their own TARDIS.

That was Ace's plan. She saw it so clearly in her mind's eye as she squeezed the trigger that it took a moment for her to realize that nothing had happened. The gun didn't fire, the bullets remained, passive and useless, in the chamber, even as the Master casually allowed his own weapon to drop to the TARDIS floor. "Temporal grace, my dear. Weapons are useless in a TARDIS. Careless of you to forget."

He, too, had forgotten, Kyris realized, even as he threw himself forward to intercept Ace's mad dash for their tormentor. She slipped past the Doctor's outstretched arms, her face distorted in a furious grimace, eyes flashing fire. The Master ducked Kyris' tackle almost as casually as he'd dropped his bluff-weapon, continuing the movement to throw a roundhouse punch that struck Ace directly in the abdomen, bringing her crashing to the floor in a breathless heap.

Ace curled around herself, gasping for breath, the fury gone from her eyes, replaced, Kyris realized as he pulled himself up from the floor, by a panic all out of proportion to the trifling blow the Master had struck. It wasn't even incapacitating, not for longer than a few seconds; why was she still lying on the floor, holding her stomach, tears suddenly pouring from her eyes? He felt his hearts clench with a sudden terror. Had the Master a knife hidden about him, was he witnessing her death, firsthand this time? But no, there was no blood, just a weeping, semi-hysterical Ace huddled on the floor, a sight that froze him for a fatally long moment. Just long enough for the Master to throw himself at the Doctor, grapple him back out the still-open door, literally kicking him out and slamming the door shut behind him, locking it as Kyris finally staggered to his feet.

He ignored the Master as the renegade ignored him, each bee-lining for a different destination; the Master to the TARDIS console, Kyris to Ace. Something was wrong, had to be horribly wrong, for Ace to react like this to a simple blow to the abdomen. There was something he wasn't getting, and for the moment it was more important than trying to get to his father.

"Ace? What's wrong?" Kyris whispered, dropping to his knees and taking her hand in his.

He nearly collapsed as the shock of her panic exploded in his mind. As a Healer he knew he had the potential to become sensitized to the pain of others through mere physical contact, but he'd never realized how powerful that sensitivity could be. Just as he fought himself under control, panting from the unexpected effort, the reason for Ace's panic almost brought him down a second time.

He stared at her incredulously, mouth open but unable to speak as he struggled to take in what his healing sense was telling him. Slowly he spread his fingers over Ace's abdomen as she raised her tear-streaked face to meet his. "Save her," she whispered.


	20. Separation Anxiety

**oOo**

The Doctor pounded angrily on the door to the Master's TARDIS, furious with himself, as much for not realizing Ace had no intention of doing as he told her as for the fact that he'd allowed himself to be bodily thrown out the door. In his defense, the Master rarely resorted to fisticuffs; the unexpectedly physical attack had disconcerted him while he was distracted by his spasm of fear for Ace and her baby. The blow the Master had landed had been hard enough to do damage; thank the Universe and everything in it that Kyris appeared to be in a position to help her.

A sudden shudder, a grinding, wheezing noise more subtle than the one given off by his own TARDIS, and the Doctor stepped hastily back. The Master was dematerializing, and the Doctor raced grimly for his own machine, meters away but feeling farther as the noise dissipated into nothingness. When he glanced back over his shoulder, the Master's TARDIS was gone.

A few seconds later, so was he.

**oOo**

"Where is the disk?"

The Master's voice, harsh, unpleasant, grated on Kyris' ears, but it was to Ace he spoke. "Well?"

The threat this time was, indeed, a knife; either temporal grace didn't apply to non-projectile weapons or it was another bluff. Based on what his mother's disk had already shown him, Kyris was inclined to believe the former over the latter possibility. "Smashed to bits," Ace growled in reply, perpetuating the bluff Kyris had started. Confirming the false as true. She turned her attention back to Kyris. "Well?" There was tension in her voice and the way she held herself, but not the panic he'd seen only moments before.

Kyris risked a smile as he pulled his hands away from her abdomen. "You're fine," he said softly. "You're both fine."

Ace, who had begun to smile back at him, frowned fiercely at that slip of the tongue, even as she pulled herself to her feet. The Master, of course, caught every nuance. "Both? Pregnant, eh? Yours, I presume?" This last was directed at Kyris, but he didn't bother waiting for answers. "Very good. Always nice to have an extra hostage along, and the Doctor's grandchild and son are about the best hostages one could ask for." He gestured with the knife. "Up on your feet, boy, and believe that at the first sign of resistance I will not hesitate to use this. On either of you." His eyes and voice were ice.

Kyris slowly did as he was told, exchanging warning glances with Ace. _Don't try anything._ Not when there was so much more to lose than he'd realized...

But Ace merely stood there, glaring, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets, unmoving. She appeared to take the threat seriously, which relieved Kyris' mind. The time to do something would come, but it would be better if the Master were distracted. Hopefully by the Doctor's return.

The Master produced a pair of binders, from where Kyris hadn't the faintest clue, but he caught them when the renegade tossed them to him. "Put these on. No, not on yourself, on her." The Master's smile was thin and humorless. "She's already proven herself to be a menace, no matter what her condition." Once the binders were, reluctantly, snapped around her wrists, his body relaxed, but only a little. "So. A baby, eh? Boy or girl?"

Kyris, who already suspected the answer, nevertheless felt a surge of elation as Ace admitted, "Girl. I've already picked out a name." She glanced sideways at Kyris, who was bolstered by her calm acceptance of the current situation. "Patience, in case you're interested."

"Not really, no." The Master's voice was dismissive. "Walk ahead of me, please, one behind the other, that's it." He followed them out of the console room. Kyris risked a glance back to see if he could tell where the Master had sent them, then hurried to keep up with Ace's confident stride. Off to imprisonment again, no doubt, but this time Kyris knew he had to find a way out for them both. _For all of us,_ he corrected himself silently. Fatherhood was upon him, ready or not, and motherhood for Ace, not at all what they'd expected, but here it was and could not be ignored.

He wasn't fooled by Ace's choice of names; there was only one name this baby would ever have.

Susan.

And it was up to him to save her.


	21. Plans Coming Together

**The Doctor's TARDIS**

It hadn't been one of his finest moments, he was willing to admit that. "Not bad, Doctor, go to rescue one hostage, lose two more in the bargain."

Granted, he hadn't realized at the time that he and Ace were working at, if not cross purposes then at least cross methods, but it was no excuse. "Right, then," the Doctor told himself, or the TARDIS. Or perhaps both of them. "What next?" He gazed down at the tracker still stitched lopsidedly to the console base, then took Romana's disk out of his pocket and slid it into the reader he'd built in during the odd moment when Ace was wandering round the ship.

He felt his stomach clench at the thought of losing her. She'd stayed with him far longer than any of his past companions, with the exception of Susan, and now he'd gone and lost her to the Master. Her, his son, his granddaughter..._Time to put things right, _he told himself resolutely. "Let's see what you're up to, shall we?"

He'd recognized the panic in his son's eyes when the Master had asked him what he offered in exchange for Kyris' life. In that instant, the Doctor realized that Kyris must have lied that the disk was destroyed. If the Master believed that to be true, that belief had to be taken advantage of. "Come on, show me what I need to see," he murmured cajolingly as he keyed in the information he sought.

Nothing. The Doctor paced away from the console and reader, then back again, lips tightened, brow lowered. He hadn't told Ace, but the reader wouldn't allow him to cross time streams with his son, or anyone with his son. Nor had he been successful in simply tuning the disk to show him the Master, not unless he was with a companion. Except, of course, for Kyris. He could see his son as he was currently, but not as he would be, the way he had Ace. He was afraid to tinker with it further; if he inadvertently did something to the disk, destroyed it, he had no way to replicate it. Even with four months to study it, he still didn't entirely know how it worked. That there was a telepathic element, he had no doubt; that it was connected to personal brainwaves or electromagnetic fields he suspected but could not confirm. And no Romana to explain it to him.

So much for looking for where they would be and getting there first. He would be forced to merely follow. However, he suspected the Master would be avoiding any stops outside the space/time vortex, if only to thwart just such an effort on the Doctor's part; he might believe the disk destroyed, but he would no doubt continue to act as if it were still in existence. Just to protect himself.

"Right, then, let's just have a look at where they are now." He depressed a few more keys and leaned closer, peering down at the reader's viewscreen.

The Master, wielding a knife, was gesturing Kyris and Ace out of his console room. Ace seemed calm enough, but Kyris eyed her warily, as if afraid she might try another foolish stunt and get herself into deeper trouble. But all she did was walk through the door. Kyris followed, hesitating only an instant as his gaze flashed toward the Master's console. Then he was through the door as well, the Master following.

Something about that brief stop nagged at the Doctor's mind, but he brushed it away as he watched his son and Ace locked into separate rooms. If it was important, he would figure it out. Since the viewer was keyed to Kyris, it stayed with him, showing him standing in his room, listening as the door was latched. Once it was, he tested the handle, then moved away to stand in the middle of the room, staring intently upward. The Doctor almost adjusted the screen to show whatever it was his son was looking at, but hesitated as Kyris started to speak. He recited a string of numbers and letters, paused, then repeated them, paused, repeated them again.

"Clever boy!" the Doctor breathed. He dug through his pockets until he pulled out a stub of a pencil and small pad of paper. As Kyris continued to repeat the mixture of numbers and letters, the Doctor hastily scribbled them down, waited for a repeat to confirm what he'd written, then turned to the TARDIS controls. "Good eyes, my boy," he murmured to himself as he worked. "I thank you for the information, and will see you at those coordinates." He patted the reader absently. "You can stop now, don't want the Master to hear and figure out what you're doing."

As if he heard his father's admonition, Kyris stopped his recitation. The Doctor kept half an eye on him as he moved to the bathroom and drank a glass of water, murmured the coordinates a few more times, then returned to the outer room and sat down on the edge of the narrow bunk. He scrubbed tiredly at his eyes, then simply sat there, staring intently at nothing. The Doctor knew the look, even from his brief relationship with his son. He was thinking, no doubt puzzling out what to do next, working out scenarios where his father received his message or didn't, whether the Master put in false coordinates expecting just such an attempt at communication, and how reliably he could count on Ace to not do something dangerously impulsive.

After all, the same thoughts were flashing through the Doctor's mind.

In spite of the myriad of things that could go wrong, he found himself smiling as he turned the reader off. Kyris had given him the information he needed to take the next step. The last rescue attempt had failed; fine.

He'd do better this time.


	22. Mind of the Master

**Interlude**

Not for the first time in his long and complex life, the Master found himself in something of a quandary.

He'd had a plan. It had been a fine plan, a plan with infinite possibilities, a plan that had hit the Doctor where it hurt most.

A plan that included killing Ace. But the original plan (wonderful, intricate, and _satisfying_ though it had been) took into account neither Kyris' tempting abilities nor Ace's pregnancy. Pregnant with the Doctor's grand-daughter, no less. There were almost too many possibilities for revenge available to him: kill them all and know that the Doctor would suffer the most over their deaths. Kill only the parents after the baby's birth, keep the child and raise her as the Doctor's enemy. Use Ace and the baby as leverage to force Kyris to use his abilities as he'd originally bargained, a bargain he no doubt considered null and void by the mere fact of Ace's capture. Use the two (three!) of them to force the Doctor to surrender himself, then kill them all anyway. Or just kill the Doctor. Lovely, endless permutations...

The Master felt positively giddy at the embarrassment of riches Fate had handed him. Nothing he'd dreamed up in the past had come close. Not even when he'd conceived his original plan of killing one companion for each regeneration, nor when he'd stumbled across the Gallifreyan miniaturization genius (regrettably deceased, of course) who'd unwittingly revealed the existence of Romana's little gadget to one of her greatest enemies.

The Master frowned. He'd wanted that cursed toy, that and the power it represented. With it in his possession, revenge against the Doctor would be unnecessary. But still worth having, of course; his days of believing a Universe without the Doctor unthinkable were long past him. But the power of the Matrix at his disposal...now that was a goal well worth pursuing Romana into E-Space for, putting his own plans on hold until he possessed it.

A pity it was destroyed. With power once again slipping through his grasp, he would happily return to vengeance against the one man who stood, time and again, firmly in his way. Tripping him up. Spoiling things.

The Doctor.

He paused in his pacing, nodding as he reached at least an initial decision. He'd leave Kyris and Ace alive, for now. No doubt the Doctor would find them again, sooner or later. When he did, the Master knew he'd have to have a more concrete idea as to how he wanted to use his fortuitous hostages against his old school-mate. He wasn't worried; something would come to him. It always did.

For now, he was content to leave them locked separately in their rooms, forbidden even the comfort of each other's presence. Let Kyris stew over the existence of his newly discovered unborn child; let Ace fret over her lover's continued absence. And above all, let the Doctor worry himself into a state over how he'd managed to lose two more hostages to his greatest adversary.

When they met again, the Master knew, it would be for the last time.

And he had no intention of being the loser.


	23. Lovers Reunited

**oOo**

Ace paced. There wasn't much else to do, really. Inconvenient, letting the Master get that close to her, and how stupid was it to forget that temporal grace wasn't just a means to protect Susan? The gun, useless hunk of metal, still lay on the floor of the Master's console room, unless he'd gone to pick it up after locking her and Kyris in their separate rooms.

Pace, pace, turn. Ace kicked the bed in frustration. But carefully, sure to hit only the mattress and without enough force to make herself stumble. She'd already had one bad scare today, and one was one too many. She cradled her mid-section lovingly, feeling Susan moving as if nothing had happened. Resilient, that's what she was, her and her mother both. Resilient.

Pace, pace turn. As she moved, she counted under her breath. When she reached 100 she stopped, listened at the door, then turned and began pacing again. She reached a second hundred, then a third. After that one she went into the loo and got a drink of water, then shut the door and gave in to the pressure on her bladder. "You'd best not have that gadget on me now, Professor, or you'll be in for an eyeful," she muttered to herself.

Her body's needs taken care of, she stepped back into the main room. Had enough time passed? She hesitated, then nodded firmly to herself. It had to have been enough. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she reached down and plucked her shoes from her feet, then turned them upside down over the spread and shook them carefully.

Ace smiled as the small lock-picking tools rattled loose. They'd been killing her toes, but she hadn't had time figure out a better hiding place. She reached up into her hair, working a pair of slim wires loose from her braids. Those never left her side, er, hair. Especially since the beginning of this particular escapade. "Come in right handy, you will," she muttered as she painstakingly re-braided her hair.

She regarded her kit thoughtfully. Lockpicking was a skill she'd acquired in a past so remote as to seem to belong to another person. It wasn't one she'd practiced professionally, so to speak; she'd never burglarized anyone. But as a teenager she knew a chap who knew a chap, one who was happy to teach her the skills needed to enter a place covertly.

Or, conversely, to leave one.

Ace got up to examine the door. She lowered herself to her knees to peer more closely at the locking mechanism, then grunted in satisfaction. Just like the ones on the Doctor's TARDIS. As expected. It would take her less than five minutes to get it open; the question was, when? She bit her lip in uncharacteristic hesitation. On the one hand, she had to get to Kyris so they could coordinate their plans, maybe even talk a little. On the other hand, the Master might show up at any time. It was a risk, but one she was willing to take. Wanted to take. Just as she wanted to see Kyris.

No, she amended silently, she _needed_ to see him. Consequences be damned; if the Master caught her out of her room and confiscated her tools, then they'd be no better off than he already thought them. But if she could slip unnoticed into Kyris' room, and the two of them could come up with some sort of plan--one they _both_ agreed to--that was worth the risk. If the Angels were looking down on her, then she'd even be able to slip back into her own room, with the Master none the wiser.

Decision reached, she set to work.

**oOo**

Kyris sprang to his feet at the sound of the door opening. He braced himself for whatever the Master had planned next, then gaped in surprise as Ace slipped into the room, closing the door gently behind her. "How did you get out? What if the Master catches you--"

"Yeah, great to see you too," Ace snapped as she walked up to him. Before Kyris could formulate a response, she was in his arms, head resting against his shoulder. "No, really, it's great to see you." She hugged him fiercely, and he held her, chin resting on top of her head as he savored the moment.

When she finally, reluctantly, pulled away, he took her hand and steered her to the edge of the bed. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you, to know that you're all right." His voice turned shy. "You and the baby--"

"Patience," Ace interrupted firmly. Had to keep him thinking of her by that name; no sense giving the Master any more information. "I want to call her Patience." Never mind the name destiny had in mind, if you believed in such things. Wishing might not make it so, but Ace was game to try.

"Patience." Kyris felt a foolish grin slip over his face. He hadn't allowed himself to think about the baby, had focused completely on getting the information his father would need to get them out of this jam. "How are you? How do you feel?"

"I'm great, the baby's fine, and I really wish we could go into it right now, but I should get back to my room before the Master comes looking for me." Ace smiled to soften the necessary harshness of her words and put his hand on her stomach. So he could feel baby kick. "I just wanted to see if you had a plan yet."

Rapidly, with his eyes full of wonder as he felt the tiny taps beneath his palm, Kyris told her how he'd (hopefully) relayed their destination coordinates to his father. Ace listened intently. When he finished, she nodded, then pulled his hand gently away, kissed it, and rose to her feet. Disappointment flashed in Kyris' eyes, then he was all business. "Wherever we're going, my father will be there to meet us."

"So all we have to do is either get outside or get him back inside," Ace finished. "Right. You know when we materialize, right? You can feel it? I can on the Doctor's TARDIS, but he says she's a noisy thing compared to this machine."

"It's more of a shiver, less of a shake," Kyris agreed. "Subtle, but you should still be able to sense it, especially if you're expecting it."

"So when it materializes, I'll come get you and we'll surprise the Master and get out of his TARDIS. If the Doctor got your message, then he'll be waiting." Ace glanced up at the ceiling, as if she could somehow see the data reader peering down at them. "And if he's watching now, then he knows that we'll do everything we can to help him. I won't muck it up this time," she added darkly.

"You probably kept the Doctor from trading himself for me," Kyris said quietly. "You gave him time to come up with a better plan."

"And nearly got myself killed. And the baby." She backed toward the door, but stopped before she reached it. "Kyris, this is all right with you, isn't it? I mean, I know it's not what you expected, what we planned--"

"But it's what happened." With three quick strides he was back in front of her. "Ace, I'm happy. Scared, but happy. I'm glad it turned out to be you." He took her in his arms, tilting her face up for a deep, satisfying kiss.

"I have to go," she breathed against his lips, and he nodded, eyes open as he pulled back, released his hold on her. It was a battle to keep his arms against his sides, to keep his face expressionless as she cautiously opened the door and stuck her head outside for quick look. Then she was gone, locking the door behind her.


	24. Dealbreaker

**oOo**

One hour. That was all the time Kyris had. One hour after Ace left before the Master showed up. For a hearts-stopping moment, Kyris was afraid she'd been found out and punished, that the Master was there to tell him Ace and the baby were gone. Panic subsided but didn't fully vanish as the Master growled at him to come along. He tossed a pair of binders, which Kyris caught automatically.

"Put them on, boy, and come with me. No heroics, or those you love will suffer for it." As succinct a threat as any he'd ever muttered. Kyris put the binders on, snapped them into place, noted the electronic control panel that flashed from green to red as he did so. Hard to get these open with a set of lockpicks, he noted ruefully before dragging himself off the bed and over to the Master's side.

Kyris felt another surge of panic; had he misjudged his ability to sense when this TARDIS had materialized? If Ace suddenly popped out of her room, who knew how the Master would react. But no, they passed her door without incident, and the subtle shimmering of the TARDIS in motion continued to dance at the edge of Kyris' perception. When they reached the console room, his sense of the TARDIS in motion was confirmed by the steady up-and-down movement of the rotor. His shoulders slumped with relief.

"You represent a conundrum." Kyris started at the Master's words, settled his uncertain gaze on the renegade's face. "One I have not yet decided how to resolve. Your answer to my next question will go a long way toward settling my dilemma."

"I won't do a damned thing for you if you harm Ace or the baby." Kyris knew his tone was truculent but did nothing to modify it.

There was a long silence. _Pregnant_, Kyris almost called it, stifling a semi-hysterical burst of gallows humor. Then: "I'll put them off my TARDIS at the location of your choice if you agree to remain with me, as per our original agreement."

Kyris blinked. The offer wasn't what he expected, simple and straight to the point as it was. "How do I know you won't go back on your word?"

The Master shrugged. "How do I know you won't go back on yours? I'll just have to trust you'll do as you promise. You'll have to do the same for me." His lips quirked in a half-smile. "I could have killed you when the Doctor and your lovely lady first showed up, for breaking the deal I believed you were sincere in offering. I've had time to think, and I realize you were as surprised to see them as I was. Certainly if you'd known Ace was pregnant, you would never have put her in harm's way, am I right?"

"Yes."

The Master allowed his grin to widen. "Then we understand each other, do we?"

Kyris glanced quickly at the console, then made a decision. "If I use my abilities to keep you safe and alive, you'll let Ace go and leave off your plan to kill my father's former companions. Including and especially Ace. And the baby."

The Master's voice became impatient. "That was the deal. In addition, I will put Ace off my TARDIS at the location of her--or your--choice." He waited.

"All ri--"

"No deal!" Kyris and the Master both spun to face that unexpected voice. It was Ace, standing in the interior door to the TARDIS. With a flick of her wrist she snapped something across the room. It hit the Master's forehead with a solid "thunk", and he collapsed to the floor in a black heap.

Kyris gaped at the Master's unconscious form for a moment, then transferred his gaze to Ace, who stared coolly back at him before walking across the room and nudging the Master's inert form with one foot. One unshod foot, Kyris realized, then transferred his incredulous gaze to the missile Ace had just hurled. Her shoe.

Ace shrugged as Kyris stared at her. "I couldn't find anything heavy along the way; none of the other doors were open and I didn't have time to pick the locks. I was hoping he'd left the gun here, but..." She shrugged, then gestured him forward. He stumbled to her side, holding up his wrists while she did something to the binders with little pieces of wire and a small electronic device he couldn't immediately identify. The binders loosened and would have fallen to the floor if Ace hadn't quickly grabbed them.

"But how did you know we were here?" Kyris was still flabbergasted, but willingly surrendered his belt to help tie the Master's feet together when Ace asked for it. The binders she attached securely to their prisoner's wrists after first slipping her lockpicking paraphernalia into her pocket.

"He stuck his head in my room to make sure I was 'comfortable' and issue the usual bag of threats." Ace's tone was dismissive. "So I gave him a few minutes, then snuck back out. I saw him taking you down the hall and followed. I figured this was our best chance." Ace tightened the belt with a grunt, then gratefully allowed Kyris to pull her to her feet, and into his arms for a warm embrace. "We haven't materialized yet, have we?"

Kyris shook his head. "No. But we should be any min--"

As if on cue, the rotor came to a stop.

Also as if on cue, there came an imperious banging on the outside door to the TARDIS. Kyris and Ace exchanged grins, then the Doctor's son reached over and opened the door.

His father barged in, brolly in hand, then came to an almost comical stop as he took in the situation. "Well. I see you have things in hand. Don't mind me, I just thought I'd drop in for a spot of tea." He sounded miffed, but the relieved grin on his face more than made up for the half-hearted sarcasm.

Ace opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a strangled gasp as she doubled over, clutching her mid-section. Kyris nearly went down with her, partly because her collapse put him off balance, but mostly because he could feel the pain coming over her in waves. Before his father could take more than two steps, he swung her into his arms. "Let's get her to your TARDIS. The baby's fine, I can feel it, but I think Ace has stressed herself a little too much." His tone was lightly chiding, but Ace and his father could both tell he would brook no arguments. "I want to take her to her room so she can rest."

Ignoring Ace's muffled protest that she could walk, he hustled her out of the Master's TARDIS, pausing only to ask the Doctor to retrieve her shoe.

The Doctor complied with a hidden smile. His own TARDIS was only a few yards away; he'd see them safely inside, then come back to deal with the Master. His smile faded. The Master was a murderer many times over, not just recently but through a long stretch of crimes dating farther back than the Doctor cared to remember. He would take him back to Gallifrey and let him stand trial. It might not be as viscerally satisfying as killing the man himself, but it would suit his sense of justice.

Something made him look over his shoulder, some instinct or premonition. As he did so, the other door slammed shut and the Master's TARDIS dematerialized before his disbelieving eyes.

Grim-faced, the Doctor turned back to his own machine. This did not bode well. It was time for desperate measures.


	25. Desperate Measures

**oOo**

Ace shook her head stubbornly. "I won't go."

The Doctor sighed. "It's the safest place for you. The one place the Master daren't go," he explained patiently. Again.

Ace glared at him. "What about you, then? Isn't it the one place you daren't go, either? Won't they make you become President or something? Put you in jail?" The two, her tone implied, were equivalent.

Kyris slumped against the wall. Ace and his father had been going round in circles ever since the older Time Lord had admitted that the Master had slipped away from them. Again. At least Ace was staying in bed. Kyris flatly refused to use his abilities to ease her discomfort, since all she really needed was rest.

"No. My political career is finished, as much due to my own actions as anything. I am safe from governmental coercion." That had the ring of truth to it, but Ace refused to be comforted.

"What about jail?" Ace's voice was stubborn. "You mayn't be president anymore but aren't you still wanted? You said this was a last resort, that the Master wouldn't dare follow us there but you would be almost as unwelcome as he is."

"Yes, I know what I said, thank you for reminding me," the Doctor snapped. Oh, how he regretted that muttered aside, regretted it as soon as the words had left his mouth, words that were now being thrown back in his face. "I've told you you'll be safer there." Not safe, never safe with the Master still on the loose. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself.

"Oh, and I can't?" Ace's tone turned deadly as Kyris let out a silent groan. Talk about the wrong thing to say--!

"I'm not taking any more chances," the Doctor said in a desperate attempt at reason. "I'm taking you to Gallifrey until you have this baby. I've already set the coordinates and sent us on our way," he added, hoping to forestall further arguing.

No such luck. "Then you can just go and un-set them," Ace shot back furiously. "Why can't we just stay dematerialized? There's no way for that bastard to track us, right?"

The Doctor sighed again and rubbed tiredly at his eyes. "Ace, we've been over this. And over it. There are other dangers in the void. Although I do have my own...issues...with Gallifrey, I also need to protect you and Susan to the best of my ability. In this case, it means planting your arse on Gallifrey and leaving it there until she's born."

His unexpected use of the mild expletive shut Ace up long enough for Kyris to cross to her side and settle gently on the bed next to her. "My father's right." It was the first time he'd spoken since the argument began. "I don't particularly want to be on Gallifrey, either, especially if they get wind of my talents. But it's the safest place for you until we track down the Master and take care of him, once and for all."

"We've been 'tracking down the Master once and for all' forever," Ace muttered sullenly, but she leaned back against the pillows at Kyris' urging and closed her eyes. "Fine, take me to Gallifrey and plant my arse there," she grumbled, reaching out blindly to find Kyris' hand and take it in her own. "But don't expect me to stay there after the baby's born." Her eyes popped open and she sat abruptly back up. Kyris stifled an annoyed exclamation as she turned her glare back on the Doctor. "Oi! You're going to look for him now, aren't you? While I'm cooling my heels on that stuffy home planet of yours--"

"Dorothy." Another unexpected word, that. Her name, spoken gently but firmly. She subsided back against the pillows, her gaze locked on the Doctor's face. "You can't come with us this time. It isn't safe. You've already had one scare with the baby--"

"And one is one too many," Ace finished quietly. She closed her eyes again. "Fine. You win. I'll stay planted while you two go looking for the Master. But you'd better be back before she's born or I won't be responsible." For what, she didn't say, but the implication was loud and clear.

The Doctor didn't bother thanking her, just as she didn't bother objecting to the "we." It might not be the perfect opportunity for father and son to get to know each other better, but they were sorely in need of some time together nonetheless. "We'll be back. I promise. And I'm not just abandoning you to the High Council's tender mercies," he added, trying to raise the mood. "I've friends on Gallifrey that might make your stay a little less onerous than you might expect."

Ace opened one baleful eye. "I already said yes, Professor," she said, with a great deal of emphasis on the last word. "Wake me when we get there."

Recognizing a dismissal when he heard it, the Doctor smiled ruefully and left the two of them to their first private moment since the Master's TARDIS.

**oOo**

"Do you really think this is the best solution?"

Kyris had expected the question, but still found it difficult to answer. "Actually, I do. Sure, we could just float about for the next, what, five months give or take? But what if something happens, what if you need medical attention that I can't help you with? I don't know what limits my abilities might have," he reminded her. "An unexpected difficulty with your pregnancy that I can't fix would be a helluva time to find out. There's too much at stake, and you know it." He kissed the top of her head.

"It doesn't mean I have to like it," Ace grumbled. A reluctant smile crossed her face as she felt Kyris shaking with silent laughter.

"No, you don't," he agreed, still laughing. "None of us do. But it's the way things have to be, so it's no use fighting it." His voice went serious. " Those cramps you got after you knocked out the Master came as much from you overdoing as anything."

Ace punched him gently in the arm, then snuggled into his embrace. "Yeah, I know. You're right, the Doctor's right, whether I like it or not. For once in my life, I have more than just me to think about."

She felt a rising tension in him, and turned her head to look questioningly into his eyes. "Kyris? What's wrong?"

"Ace, you must have figured out how I feel about you," he began in a hesitant voice, but she interrupted him with a lingering kiss.

"Yeah, and you know how I feel about you, too," she replied. "And before you go off Master-baiting, let me remind what you'll be missing while you're gone." With an impish grin, she tugged her t-shirt off over her head.

"You're supposed to be resting," Kyris started to object, then stopped, staring, as she wiggled just enough to catch his undivided attention. "Well, at least you'll be in bed," he offered weakly.

"Says who?" was the last coherent thing he heard from Ace for a long, lovely time.


	26. Welcoming Committee

**Gallifrey**

Of course there was a welcoming party. The surprise was that it consisted of only two people, one male, one female, both in Chancellory Guard uniforms. The Doctor stopped short at the sight of them, while Ace and Kyris braced for trouble. The woman, a slender brunette, stepped forward, and the Doctor took two steps to meet her.

"Doctor?" Her voice was questioning.

He nodded. "Yes, it's me."

"Doctor!"

Ace and Kyris exchanged puzzled glances as the woman flung her arms around the Doctor, an embrace which he enthusiastically returned. "Leela! How wonderful to see you! And Andred, you're looking well."

The man had stepped forward, almost shyly, as if unsure of his welcome, but the Doctor reached out to clasp his hand, then pull him into the embrace he still shared with the woman. Leela. Another old companion, one that Ace had always had a sneaking admiration for. Never heard _that_ one scream. Ever.

Now that she was closer, Ace spotted the sheathed dagger strapped to the woman's thigh, the non-regulation leather boots rising to mid-calf, the tip of another dagger in some kind of shoulder harness peeking from beneath her hair.

While Ace and Kyris held back out of deference to the Doctor's reunion with his old comrades-in-arms, the three of them were babbling like any group who haven't seen each other in a while. Years, Ace guessed; maybe not since the Doctor's fourth self, the one who'd fought off the Sontarans with this very couple, among others.

"Leela, Andred, I'd like to introduce you to my current traveling companions." The Doctor gestured Ace and Kyris forward.

Kyris shook hands with them both. Andred shook Ace's hand as well, but Leela frowned and squinted at the younger woman before taking her hand in her firm, no-nonsense grip. "You are pregnant."

Ace, startled by the unexpected pronouncement, stepped back, staring at Leela in astonishment as she jerked her hand away. "What? I mean, how did you--how could you--?" She looked at the Doctor.

He shook his head and smiled. "I didn't tell her." The smile turned impish. "Cross my hearts."

"But I'm not showing that much!" Ace protested, ignoring the Doctor's sudden playfulness to glance down at herself to make sure that statement was still true. It was.

"Is it a secret? Have I caused trouble?" Leela asked, a worry line creasing her forehead.

Ace shook her head. "No, not a secret. You just surprised me, is all." How the bloody hell had she known, if the Doctor hadn't told her?

"Is this why you have returned, Doctor? Because of the baby?" was Leela's next question.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it is." The Doctor turned serious again. He looked around uncertainly. "When I announced my arrival, I expected a rather larger welcoming committee."

"You have many friends on Gallifrey, Doctor," Andred put in. "Some of them have a great deal of influence. You won't be bothered while you're here, for however long you stay."

"Yes, well, that could change once I explain the situation to the Council," the Doctor muttered. He pushed his hat more firmly on his head and clutched his brolly to his chest. "Is there somewhere we can talk in private before I present myself before that august body? This is Ace and Kyris, by the way, the proud soon-to-be parents."

Leela frowned. "You are welcome in our home, Doctor, but if you do not wish to go before the Council, then why are you planning to do so?" She started walking, the Doctor by her side.

It was the Doctor's turn to frown as he fell into step beside her, Andred, Ace and Kyris immediately following. "I can hardly just show up and not expect them to want to interrogate me; they always have in the past."

Leela shook her head. "It has been a long time since you were last here, Doctor. Much has changed."

"Intriguing though I find that statement, I shall wait until we are someplace more private to question you about it," the Doctor murmured, but he shot the lithe brunette a speculative glance as she quickened her pace in acknowledgment of the implied urgency of his words.


	27. Visiting Hours

**oOo**

Leela and Andred's quarters were comfortable, Ace decided, in a Genghis Khan, "don't-mind-the-weapons" sort of way. A group of low, curvy couches were arranged in a loose circle around a central fire pit whose smoke was wafted away by some mysterious means Ace couldn't quite make out, but certainly appreciated. There were a few low tables between the couches, and other chairs and tables scattered along the far wall. All the furniture looked comfortable, but it was definitely the wall art that captured her attention. That, along with the fire pit and circular nature of the room, gave it an archaic, militaristic flavor that complemented the room's owners. Especially Leela.

She, Ace concluded, was the one most likely to have picked out the array of weapons displayed along the upper arch of the main room, strategically placed out of reach of little hands. And there were many little hands, at least that was Ace's first, confused, impression; it took her a while to sort out the fact that there wasn't really an endless parade of children, but rather a clutch of about four, all moving and talking at once, clambering for their parents' attention and that of the strangers.

"Children." Leela's voice was unraised but firm, and they immediately stilled, settling to the floor and staring up at the adults with wide-open eyes and mercifully closed mouths. "Where is Noni?"

"Studying," the oldest, a girl of about seven, replied. "In her room."

"Fetch her." The girl rose obediently to her feet and dashed out of the room at top speed--but quietly.

Andred was chuckling as he removed his helmet and sat on one of the couches. "Come settle yourselves here, let our guests gather their breath before you bombard them with questions." As one, the three remaining children--a boy of about five, another about three, and quite a small girl who couldn't be more than one or two--glanced at Leela. She nodded, and they piled on the couch, alongside their father.

Ace continued to study the children, who stared unabashedly back at her. There was a marked resemblance to Leela in their eyes and hair color and the shapes of their faces, but Ace thought she saw something of Andred in their noses and chins. "Are all these yours?" The question slipped out before she could stop it, or modify the incredulous tone in which it was voiced.

Leela nodded, moving easily into the room as she, too, shed her ceremonial trappings, stripping down efficiently to an under tunic and the tight trousers tucked into her boots. "I have sent Anji to fetch her older sister, Noni. These are Ari, Borin, and our youngest, Mia."

"Five children?" The Doctor sounded dazed, but he moved down the two steps that brought them to the center of the room and sat down opposite Andred and the youngest children. Ace and Kyris followed, Ace frowning. There was something here she wasn't getting, something about the children that held the Doctor amazed, and she was sure it wasn't just the quantity.

Leela and Andred exchanged glances as she joined her family on their side of the couch. Just then Anji returned, as quietly as she'd left, this time with an older girl in tow. Noni looked even more like her mother than the rest. The sisters crowded onto the couch with their parents and siblings, and all five children stared at the newcomers with varying degrees of interest on their faces.

"My, you've been busy," the Doctor finally said, his voice faint. As if he were overwhelmed at the sight of so many children.

"It's all right, Doctor, you can ask," Andred said, his voice steady. "You won't be the first."

"They allowed Leela's genetic material into the Loom?"

Ace frowned, turning to Kyris, but he seemed to understand his father's question, so she turned back to the Doctor. "Genetic loom? What's that when it's at home?"

"It's the way most Gallifreyans are 'born,' for lack of a better word," the Doctor replied. "I would have said 'all' if it wasn't for--well. You know."

"I do not," Leela cut in. "Fear not, Doctor; anything you wish to speak of will not be overheard here, nor will our children repeat your words." All of the children nodded, even the youngest, although Ace suspected she was merely mimicking the actions of her older siblings. Surely she was too young to understand what was being said? However, after another look at the girl's clear, brown eyes, Ace decided to withhold judgment on that matter, instead waiting to see how much the Doctor planned to tell his former companion and her husband. He'd been a clam about his intentions outside of leaving her here.

The Doctor hesitated, then glanced at Ace and Kyris as if for assistance. "Just tell her," Kyris urged. "If you trust them, then I trust them."

The Doctor searched his son's face as intently as Ace had Mia's, then nodded. "Very well." He turned back to Leela and Andred. "Kyris was born outside the Loom. His mother was my former companion, the Time Lady Romana."

"Our children were also born outside the loom," Andred put in quietly. "All of them. We were granted special permission, after some matters Leela and I assisted in." Ace opened her mouth to ask what matters, but subsided as the Doctor shot her a stern look. "I assume such permission was not a factor in your son's birth? Kyris is your son, correct? Or am I making an unwarranted assumption?"

The Doctor nodded. "He is." His tone was unapologetic. "As I told you already, he and Ace are about to become parents, without permission from the Council."

Ace could keep silent no longer. "What d'you mean, without permission? You never told me we needed any kind of 'permission' for me to have my baby!" She struggled to her feet, shrugging off Kyris' hand. "That's it, I'm getting back on the TARDIS. I don't care how 'safe' you say it is here, there's no bloody way I'll let your Council get involved in my pregnancy!"

It took a few minutes for Kyris to calm her down; the Doctor had the grace to look chagrined as Ace reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled back to her seat. "I"m sorry, that was a poor choice of words. There is no specific law you're breaking, Ace, and no one will be coming after you."

"Especially since you don't want you son's identity or the fact that Ace's child will be half-Gallifreyan advertised," Andred inserted drily.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied. He fiddled with his hat before shoving it back on his head. "I realize I'm asking a great deal of you--all of you," he added, glancing at the children. Was that a smile hovering about his lips? Ace couldn't quite tell. "But this is important."

"Do you fear punishment?" The question came from Noni. Ace guessed her age at around fourteen or fifteen, not much younger than she had been when she first joined up with the Doctor. She was even built like her mother, slim and athletic, with brown hair and eyes that seemed to thoughtfully consider everything they took in.

"It's quite a bit more complicated than that," the Doctor replied. Before he could say anything else, Ace's stomach gave a loud rumble, and she reddened in embarrassment. "Yes, well, perhaps we can find something for this young lady to eat? And myself and Kyris as well, if you don't mind?"

"Prepare the evening meal," Leela commanded--really, there was no other way to put it--and all but the youngest child rose reluctantly to their feet. She wiggled herself more comfortably on her father's lap and stuck her tongue out at her brothers as they shot resentful glares her way.

"Can't the Doctor tell us some stories?" the oldest boy piped up, returning his attention to his mother. "You told us he might, if we asked nicely."

There were murmurs of agreement from the other children, quickly quelled under their mother's stern gaze. "Later. Now is the time for adults to speak amongst themselves. When the food is prepared you may ask the Doctor and his family your questions. If they agree."

_Family._ With a jolt, Ace realized she and the baby were included in that word. The Doctor's family. She was part of that now, and it gave her an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach; it wasn't something she'd considered before this.

Kyris squeezed her fingers gently, a quizzical expression on his face as he caught something about her expression, but she shook her head and smiled. _Not now._

The Doctor's face had gone serious once the older children were out of the room. Ace half-listened as he explained the situation, her attention riveted by the dark-haired toddler sitting quietly on her father's lap. Mia was adorable, her brown eyes enormous in her face, fingers straying every now and then to her mouth but never quite making it past the lips. _This is how Susan might look, a year after she's born,_ she thought, entranced by the idea. Her hands slid lovingly across her stomach, and she felt Kyris' arm about her shoulder, as if he sensed where her thoughts were.

"So that's where we currently stand," the Doctor finished.

Kyris gave Ace's shoulder a light squeeze, and she looked away from Mia, forcing her attention to the matter at hand. If Leela and Andred agreed, she would be seeing a lot more of all their children over the next however-many months until her baby was born.

There was a short silence while Leela and Andred exchanged glances. Apparently Andred read a question in his wife's eyes; he nodded and she flashed him a grateful smile before looking back at the Doctor. "Ace is welcome to stay with us until your grandchild is born, Doctor. Will you return before her time nears?"

"I intend to take care of this matter as quickly as possible," the Doctor replied, his voice grim. "It is my intention that Kyris and I be here well before the blessed event, with good news for everyone."

Leela's eyes were troubled. "I would accompany you on this mission, Doctor..."

"But you have your own family to take care of," he interrupted firmly. "Ace can take care of herself under normal circumstances, but I would take a great deal of comfort in knowing that you were both here to help out." The impish grin returned. "Besides, I'm sure she'd be very interested in some knife throwing lessons, eh?"

"A girl's gotta know how to protect herself," Ace replied good-naturedly. Yeah, she'd prefer not to be treated like a china doll, but she'd already acknowledged her need for help this one time, and she wasn't about to get an attitude now. Besides, the knife throwing thing didn't sound half bad. And it certainly wouldn't hurt her to spend time with a family, to get a leg up on what she would be facing if she were allowed to raise Susan...

That thought brought her back to reality with a jolt, but she forced it out of her mind. There would be no "if;" Kyris and the Doctor would find the Master and really do the "once and for all" thing. There could be no alternative. If it rewrote history, so be it; they'd run into more than a few paradoxes in their travels, and could take one more in stride. Especially this one.


	28. Leavetaking

**oOo**

"Have you seen the Doctor?"

Ace looked up, startled; she hadn't heard Noni enter the room. "Outside, talking to your mum, I think." The two of them had disappeared after dinner. "Did you need to ask him something?"

Noni smiled. "I think we asked him enough questions over dinner. At least, I believe _he_ thinks so."

Ace returned the younger girl's smile. "I think they're having a private chat about old times, something like that. Anything I can help you with?"

Noni studied her a moment, then came fully into the room and folded herself easily on the low chair by the door, pulling her knees up and locking her hands together around them. "What's it like?"

Ace settled onto the edge of the bed and set to work brushing and rebraiding her hair. She'd been folding clothes, reluctantly putting them into the drawers provided while Andred and Kyris fetched the rest of her things from the TARDIS. She'd resisted that as well, until Kyris brought a set of his own clothes from his father's ship and dumped them wordlessly into the bottom drawer. To remind her that he would be back. "What? Traveling on the TARDIS?"

Noni nodded. "My mother said we might be able to take a trip after the Doctor and Kyris have killed the Master."

That brought Ace up short; she stared in astonishment, not only a the words but the off-hand way in which they were spoken. "Was I really that bloodthirsty when I was your age?" she murmured, conveniently forgetting her own recent attempt on the Master's life. "I think the plan is to fetch him back here to face justice."

Noni shrugged. "Killing him would be quicker. He is a threat that has long needed eliminating, that's what the Doctor said at dinner. Is it true he's killed many people? The Master, I mean. He is not an enemy my parents have discussed."

"Whole bloody worlds," Ace confirmed bleakly. "Still, the Doctor's not really a taking vengeance into his own hands kind of guy."

"My mother said he was too soft," Noni agreed matter-of-factly. "But he has managed to survive, so I think she might have been too hard on him. I think she was angry at him," she added.

"Angry? Why?" Ace was confused; was Noni changing the subject? It seemed like she might be, but it was hard to tell. Noni, unlike her younger siblings, was miserly with her words. Terse. But the ones she did let out seemed carefully chosen; it seemed unlikely, Ace thought, that anything she said now was off the subject, no matter how random it might appear at first.

Noni favored her with an unblinking stare. "Because he let her leave him and stay here on Gallifrey. She was in love with him, you know." There it was, another off-the-cuff bombshell that caught Ace by surprise.

She flopped backwards onto the bed with a groan. "I don't think I needed to have this dropped on my lap, thank you," she grumbled, overwhelmed. She propped herself up on her elbows and stared at Noni. "How do you know all this?" Leela didn't seem the type to confide such a thing to anyone, let alone her teenage daughter.

Another shrug. "I listen when my mother talks. I can hear it in her voice. It used to trouble my father, when I was younger. When it was just the three of us. They used to fight sometimes, not often but when they did I made sure to keep out of sight." _But not earshot_, Ace reckoned shrewdly.

"Fight about what?" she asked, reluctant and guilty. But she asked.

"The Doctor. Whether my mother wanted to go back to him." Noni's eyes turned thoughtful. "It stopped right before Ari was born, she seemed happier then." She rose to her feet with fluid grace. "I thought you should know these things, since you'll be living with us. The Doctor's return could bring back the fighting." She paused in the doorway. "I don't think it will, since the Doctor has regenerated so many times since my mother first knew him, but I can't be sure. It's almost like he's a different person."

"We all change," was all Ace could think to say as Noni drifted out of the room as silently as she'd entered. "Looking for the Doctor my ass," she muttered under her breath. "She came in here just to tell me that." She grabbed a pillow without looking and threw it across her face. "Just what I bloody need, palace intrigues." Her voice was muffled by the soft, cottony material, as was her hearing.

"What's that about palace intrigues?" Ace yelped as the pillow was pulled from her face. She hadn't heard Kyris enter the room and put the last of her belongings on the low bench at the foot of the bed. "Been listening to Gallifreyan gossip, have you?"

"I'm beginning to think I'd be better off taking my chances with the Master," Ace replied as she sat up. Unconsciously mimicking Noni's position, she wrapped her arms around her knees as she relayed all the information she'd just received to an openly stunned Kyris.

"I never thought of my father as leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him, but this puts an interesting light on his past, wouldn't you say?"

Ace shook her head emphatically. "No, I wouldn't. And neither will you, if you know what's good for you. You and your father will be spending a lot of time together, if the Master's as hard to find as I think he will be. No sense stirring up trouble."

Kyris shook his head as he sank onto the bed next to her, feigning a concerned look and placing a hand to her forehead. "Something must be wrong; I could swear you just told me to proceed cautiously. Since when does Ace back off from a challenge?"

Ace swatted his hand away. "Since now. Since this." She pointed to her stomach. "Since the Master drop-kicked me into remembering what I have to lose. Leela called us a family, and I don't want my family members fighting. Especially not over...gossip." She almost said _ancient history_.

"It isn't really gossip," Kyris argued, his face and voice sobered in light of Ace's fierce protectiveness. "Noni doesn't strike me as the gossipy type, especially not about her mother. If she shared that little tid-bit with you, it was for a reason."

"Yeah, but not so you could accuse your father of romancing his old companions," Ace shot back.

Kyris stiffened. "She said her mother was in love with him. She never said he returned the feelings, or did anything to encourage them. If he had, she probably wouldn't have stayed on Gallifrey with Andred," he said quietly.

Ace leaned forward and kissed him. "I'm sorry," she whispered as he relaxed and hauled her onto his lap for a hug. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"However my father felt about Leela or she about him, it's long in the past," Kyris replied. "Noni probably thought she was doing you a favor, letting you know what you're getting into. I don't think that information has to go any father than it already has. I promise not to ask my father how many of his past companions he slept with if you promise to not worry about us while we're gone."

Just like that, he'd got to the heart of her fretting. To show her annoyance, Ace punched him lightly on the arm. "No fair reading my mind," she grumbled, then paused, searching his face, distracted by her own words. "You can't, actually, can you? Read my mind?" He shook his head, and she mimed a relieved "whew" by drawing her hand across her brow. "You two are going off tomorrow without me, for who knows how long, chasing the Master while I have nothing better to do than settle in and wait."

"And learn to throw knives," Kyris reminded her.

Ace laughed. "Yeah. That too. Should be interesting right along the ninth month."

"Interesting, and probably not too much harder than shoes," Kyris agreed gravely.

Tension diffused, Ace hopped up to her feet, pulling on his hand until he joined her. "Let's go for a walk, check out a Gallifreyan night before bed, eh?"

Smiling, Kyris let himself be pulled along. But there was a chill in his hearts. They both knew there was a very real chance that neither he nor his father would return. Or what might be worse; their search could end in failure, the Master still free and still doing his level best to destroy them. But for tonight, he would put such fears aside, determined not to let them spoil what might be his last night with Ace.

After all, he knew she was thinking the very same things.

**oOo**

Leela and the Doctor, meanwhile, had already strolled around the garden once and were making a second--or was it a third?--circuit.. The younger children were in bed, Andred and Kyris had gone to retrieve Ace's belongings, and Ace was supposedly resting in the bedroom that had been given to her for the duration of her stay.

The talk stayed neutral, reminiscent, until the Doctor inadvertently mentioned Rassilon.

Leela came to a dead stop; it took a second for the Doctor to realize he'd left her. When he looked back, confused, she was standing on the path, unmoving. He walked back to her. "You did not seek me out when you were taken into the Death Zone," she said reproachfully.

"Yes, well, there really wasn't a great deal of time for looking up old friends," the Doctor returned lightly. "And when it was over I had to leave rather suddenly."

Leela frowned, unmollified. "I would have aided you--"

"I know." They stared at each other for a moment before the Doctor spoke again. "I know. You're helping me now, and I am truly grateful."

"It is not the same," Leela said flatly. "I still think I should be going with you."

"What, abandon your family to go gadding about the universe with me on what could very well end up being a wild goose chase?" The Doctor shook his head. "I doubt that would sit well with your children--or with Andred." She was silent in the face of the truth. He continued in a gentler tone: "Leela, what you're doing for me is just as important as chasing down the Master. Ace and her baby need protection, and I need to know that they're being watched by someone who will keep them safe."

Leela's chin jerked up. "Ace and her baby _will_ be safe with us. I have given you my word."

The Doctor smiled. "I would take your word above almost anyone's. Thank you, Leela." He took her hand and kissed it gallantly.

She jerked the hand away as if burned. "Do not do such things, Doctor." Her voice was sharp, angry.

He looked genuinely confused. "I'm sorry, have I offended you?"

Unconsciously, she rubbed the hand he'd kissed, holding it close to her heart. "I have found happiness here, more than I expected when I remained behind and watched you leave. I do not wish to be reminded of the life--and the man-- I chose to abandon."

The Doctor had gone very still. "Leela, we were both very different people then, in my case quite literally."

Leela shook her head. "In some ways, yes. You are more dangerous than the Doctor I knew." He seemed about to protest this comparison, but subsided as she continued: "But in many ways, you have not changed. Nor have I. I love my husband, but there are other feelings that have never left my heart. Feelings for you." The naked honesty in her voice was painful to hear. "I will do anything you ask of me, Doctor, but in return I would ask that you not do anything to encourage those feelings, or it will cause a great deal of trouble for me." She looked up at the stars, then turned her head toward the house. When she spoke again, it was in an abrupt change of subject. "You and Kyris will leave in the morning, and there are things Andred and I must do to prepare for Ace's stay. We will see you tomorrow." _We._ Not _I_. She headed for the house at a steady pace, leaving the Doctor to the night breezes--and his thoughts.

**oOo**

Breakfast was a quiet affair, or would have been if the younger children hadn't kept up a lively chatter that easily covered the adults' silence. Apparently, Ace decided, she wasn't the only one with things to mull over.

The Doctor and Kyris slipped away without fanfare during the clatter and confusion of cleaning up, of getting the children ready for their lessons, of Leela and Andred preparing for their duties as Chancellory Guards. This time, Ace noticed, Leela wore regulation boots and only carried one visible dagger.

Ace was the only one who watched as they left, the Doctor and his son. She slipped out the door behind them, catching Kyris by the arm and stopping him for one last, desperate kiss. "I love you, Kyris," she whispered fiercely. "I'm bloody well not letting you go without saying the words."

"I love you too, Ace," he whispered back. "And for the record, it's Kyristralawnian." He smiled at her confused look. "My full name. A mouthful, I know. I wrote it down for you. It's in with your things." He hugged her, then stepped away. "Time to go. See you soon."

"Soon,"she echoed. "And if you really want to, you can call me Dorothy. Just not in front of the Professor."

He smiled, then turned and walked after his father.

Just like that, they were gone.


	29. Throwing Knives

**Two Months Later**

THUNK! The knife flew into the target, not quite in the center, but closer than it had come in the past. Leela nodded approvingly. "Your technique is improving, but you are still not compensating for your changing center of balance."

Ace glanced down at her stomach ruefully. The tiny bump had ballooned rapidly, until now there was no doubt as to her condition. "Patience won't let me find my balance as easily as I used to," she admitted with a grin. "My technique may not improve at all if she keeps growing like this." She paused, suddenly uncertain. "Was it like this for you?"

"My pregnancies? Yes, I had a difficult time adjusting, at least with Noni. It was easier with the others."

Ace shook her head, half-trotting to keep up as Leela strode to the target five meters away. "No, not that, not the balance thing. Was it the same, how your body changed?" She unconsciously lowered her voice. "You're the only other person I know who's had half-Gallifreyan children. How long were you pregnant, nine months? Longer? Less?" The questions tumbled out as Leela stopped and stared at Ace over her shoulder. The younger woman came to a stop as well, still several meters from the target and knives they'd been going to retrieve. "I've been wanting to ask, but it never seemed like a good time." She shrugged. "I'm six months pregnant now; it's getting a bit late to be putting things off."

"My pregnancies were all normal for my people. For our people," Leela corrected herself. "Human normal. Each lasted nine months. Noni was the latest, by two weeks, Anji the earliest by a week. Are you worried? Andred's sister should be able to answer your questions and ease your fears, as she did for me." Ace had already met Drea, and found her calm demeanor and discreet manner soothing, even if her healing abilities were strictly medical. Not like Kyris. "When your time comes, she will be there," Leela reminded her. She hesitated, then added: "I have not attended another's birthing since I left my home, but I would be honored to attend, if you wish."

Ace smiled. "Yeah, I wish. Boy do I wish! Thanks!" They continued walking, and she looked at the target as they reached it. Her knife wasn't quite as close to the center as it had seemed from a distance, and hadn't sunk nearly as deeply into the wood as Leela's. "Just like I wish I could bloody well get the hang of this," she muttered. She yanked the knife out of the target. As if to protest her mother's use of time, the baby kicked. Hard. Ace grimaced and massaged the side of her abdomen soothingly. "Puts me off balance every time she does that, kicks or stretches or gets the hiccups," she complained good-naturedly.

"It is something you must learn to compensate for," Leela replied, pulling her own knife out far more smoothly than Ace had. "Think of it as a challenge. You must overcome it to reach your goal."

Ace wrinkled her nose. "No thanks. I'd rather not start off motherhood by thinking of my baby as a challenge to be overcome."

"All children are challenges to be overcome," Leela countered as she studied her blade. Looking for defects. "It does not make them any less precious."

With a sigh, Ace examined her own blade. "I guess. But it still won't help my knife throwing."

"Then think of the target as the Master. Use your daughter's movements to strengthen your resolve, to remind you what you fight for. It will sharpen your focus instead of distracting you."

Ace considered Leela's words, then nodded. "Right. Let's have another go at it." She headed back, knife in hand, a determined look in her eyes.


	30. Geese

**The TARDIS**

"Go ahead. Ask me."

Kyris looked up, startled. He'd been reading in the Cloister Garden, leaning against a fallen column (fallen by design or accident?) with a half-eaten sandwich lying forgotten by his side. "Ask you what?" He was honestly bewildered. They'd been chasing the Master fruitlessly for almost two months now, and he'd sought refuge this "afternoon" because he could no longer stand the sight of the tracking device his father had tinkered together. Its silence had become a symbol of futility.

The Doctor hunkered down next to him, resting his hands on his knees. "There's been a question burning on your face since we left, and I warrant it has nothing to do with either Ace or chasing the Master. Does it."

Kyris ducked his head, embarrassed to have been caught with speculation in his eyes. Which he must have done, or his father wouldn't have sought him out like this. Not that they hadn't spoken; on the contrary, they'd spent a great deal of time together, and an equal amount of time apart, separately and together trying to improve their chances of finding the Master, while at the same time learning more about each other and the lives they'd led before. Before the Master, before this endless searching. But lately Kyris had found his thoughts straying from the task at hand, returning to the conversation he and Ace had shared the night before he left. "It's none of my business," he mumbled. "I'm sorry if I've, what's the saying? Put you on the spot?"

If he'd hoped to distract his father with a lecture on the origins of yet another Earth saying, he was disappointed. The Doctor stared at him until he looked back up. Until he asked. With a sigh, Kyris capitulated, offering a mental apology to Ace for not keeping shut as she'd asked. "Leela's daughter, Noni, the oldest one, she came to Ace the night before we left. Told her Leela had...feelings...for you when you traveled together."

"Noni is not your half-sister," the Doctor replied, not to the fumbling statement, but to the unspoken question he knew was in his son's mind.

Kyris straightened, startled and defensive. "I never asked if she was."

"But you wondered." The Doctor looked steadily at his son until he nodded reluctant agreement. "I met your mother after Leela left me. I thought you knew that."

"I did." The words came out angrier than Kyris intended, burdened with shame that he'd even considered such a thing. "I knew that. She's too young, she'd be older than me. I did know that. But there are all kinds of paradoxes out there, like meeting your grown daughter while you're just pregnant with her."

The Doctor's grin was rueful. "Touche."

"Noni said her parents used to fight, when she was younger. About you. She was afraid they'd start again, now you were back."

The Doctor went very still at that revelation. "I see."

Kyris studied his father, not sure what he was looking for nor what exactly he was looking at. The Doctor was much better at hiding his thoughts than his son. "Ace asked me not to say anything to you. Told me not to start trouble, not in so many words, but that was what she meant. Said she didn't want her family fighting."

"And so we won't. You didn't ask, I did. And now we both know." The Doctor rose to his feet with a groan, arching his back and stretching. "Never get old, Kyris. It wreaks havoc on your system."

Kyris scooped up his book and sandwich and came to his feet as well. "It beats the alternative."

Before the Doctor could respond, an alarm shattered the TARDIS' silence. As one, the Doctor and his son stared upward. "The Master," the Doctor breathed. "It's about bloody time."

But Kyris was already half-way to the door. The Doctor strode after him, stepping over the book and sandwich his son had dropped, unheeded, when the alarm began.

"Let's finish this." His voice was hard, and the Doctor merely nodded and continued out of the room without a backward glance.

**oOo**

"A decoy!" The words exploded from Kyris' mouth with bitter force, and he swore under his breath as he came to a stop just in front of the TARDIS console. He turned to face his father, just coming through the door behind him. "That bastard keeps one step ahead of us at every turn."

The Doctor sighed as he closed the door behind him, looking down at his jury-rigged tracking device. They'd been chasing the Master's false signal for almost a week, chasing it down and only barely escaping with their lives when the explosive device to which the false telemetry was attached had exploded. "That's done it for this method," he finally said, his voice quiet, regretful. "He'll just play the same trick on us, only next time we might not be so lucky." He nudged the welded-on equipment with one toe. They'd expended a great deal of time and effort on what had turned out to be the wildest of goose chases. It was disheartening, to say the least.

"So now what?" Kyris demanded, his voice a mixture of anger and indecision. "How do we find him without walking into another trap? We have to be back in time for the baby, but we can't go without finishing this."

The Doctor shook his head. "No. _You_ have to be back for the baby. I don't." He raised his hand to forestall the protest he saw in his son's eyes. "I've been rethinking my 'strategy,' if you can call it that." There was self-disgust in his voice. "I've decided to take you back to Gallifrey. Then I'm going to work on this." He pulled the data retriever out of his pocket. "Your mother didn't develop this completely on her own. She was no expert in miniaturization; someone helped her. I'm going to see if I can find that someone, get them to modify this thing so I can track the Master with it."

"I can help--"

"No, you can't," the Doctor interrupted. Expecting the protest. "Miniaturization isn't your specialty, either. Is it." He waited for Kyris' reluctant head-shake, then continued. "We've been searching for two months, and found only a trap the Master set for us. It's time to change tactics. I don't know how long it will take me to find someone who can help me modify this, and I don't dare tinker with it myself until I understand exactly how it was put together in the first place. I'd be able to focus better if I knew you were back with Ace. And I know she wants you there when the baby is born."

"She wants us both there," Kyris pointed out.

"Then she'll get half of what she wants, which is more than most people get," the Doctor shot back waspishly. "You know you want to be there as well."

"Yeah, I do," was Kyris' sullen, unwilling response. "You're right. But I don't have to like it."

"Nor do I. But it is what will happen." There was a finality in the Doctor's voice that his son couldn't find the strength to argue with. Besides, his father was right. He _did_ want to be back in time for the baby, and knew Ace would never forgive him if he missed it.

Once again, the Master would have to wait.


	31. Good News?

**Gallifrey - Five Months Later**

Ace sighed. Finally, the baby was born. A beautiful, healthy girl, as promised. It had been wonderful to have Kyris by her side, as wonderful as having Leela there to assist Drea with the actual delivery. That process had gone as well as any, considering that Gallifrey, for all its cultural and technological advances, had no better way to bring a baby into the world than Ace's own planet. Of course, since the Time Lords had long since given up on this method of reproduction, that came as no surprise. A disappointment, perhaps, but not a surprise.

Ace hummed as she changed the baby's nappy. She was almost two months old now, and still the most beautiful thing her mother had ever seen. . Her little Patience. She stubbornly continued to call her daughter that, rather than Susan, as if the simple changing of a name could ward off the future. Who knew, maybe it could. Kyris was happy to go along with whatever Ace wanted at the moment, and the Doctor hadn't come back yet to offer an opinion.

Ace frowned. The Doctor's continued absence was the only thing marring her current happiness. Well, that and the fact that the Master was still running around. At least, she supposed he was, or the Doctor would have returned by now. Unless he'd been caught in another trap...

She turned her thoughts resolutely away from that possibility. No, the Doctor would be back, he'd promised, and he wasn't one to go back on a promise. Not to her, and certainly not to Kyris.

Noni appeared in the doorway. "I'm ready for our walk." Her eyes lingered on Patience. "Is she all set?" She tried to hide the eagerness in her voice, but Ace, who had become very attuned to the nuances of Leela's family over the past seven months, heard it and smothered a smile in response. Of all the children, Noni was the most interested in the Doctor's grandchild. Anji and Mia liked to play with her, to the extent that they cooed over her and shook rattles in her face until their enthusiasm brought her to anxious tears, while their brothers ignored her as best they could; but Noni loved to help Ace take care of her. Their afternoon walks were something she looked forward to, racing through her lessons and training to make sure she was finished in time to join Ace and Kyris in pushing the pram around the gardens and nearby walkways.

The pram had arrived with Kyris, and old-fashioned buggy with frilly lace trim and a sturdy metal frame supporting a very Victorian wicker body. "A gift from the Doctor," he'd explained at his unexpected return. But no Doctor to go along with it. Ace was disappointed that he hadn't even stopped to see how she was doing, but she understood. Chasing the Master took priority.

Having Kyris back had been more than enough to ease the disappointment. She'd expected a last-minute swoop into the birthing room, rather than having almost two whole months to luxuriate in his presence. Two months during which he anxiously kept reminding her that his abilities might not be much use to her when the baby was being born. "My healing skills are for fixing the broken bits, not easing the natural parts." Not truly comprehending what she was about to experience, she'd happily agreed.

It had certainly been comforting to have him nearby, and not only in case there were any "broken bits" that might need mending. Ace smiled to herself; in spite of his own protests, Kyris had done some surreptitious "easing" when Drea was otherwise occupied. By unspoken agreement, Andred's sister had been left uninformed as to Kyris' capabilities.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Kyris burst into the room, panting. Ace froze in the act of handing the baby over to Noni; there was something about his expression that held her motionless.

"Kyris? What is it?" Noni asked.

"It's the Doctor, he's back." Kyris brandished a piece of paper above his head. "He says he has good news, and wants us to meet him at his TARDIS." His voice was exultant.

Ace hesitated, glancing uncertainly at her daughter. "I will take care of her until you return," Noni said, correctly interpreting Ace's expression. "Go. Speak with the Doctor." She held her arms out, and Ace reluctantly gave her over. With a quick kiss to her daughter's forehead, Ace took Kyris' hand and sprinted for the door.

**oOo**

"Where is he? Why didn't he just come to the house?" Ace asked as Kyris led her back to where the Doctor's note said the TARDIS was waiting.

He shook his head. "Dunno. Maybe he didn't want to leave the Master alone on the TARDIS? Just because you lock someone in a room doesn't mean they stay there," he added, with a sideways grin.

Ace punched him lightly in the arm. "Right. And just because you knock someone out doesn't mean they stay knocked out. Got it."

They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way to the Doctor's TARDIS. And there it was, the familiar old box. Ace groped automatically in her pocket, then gasped with dismay. "I've left my key!"

"The note said it would be open," Kyris reassured her as she stopped short. He tugged on her hand. "Come on, he's waiting." He drew a deep breath. "Let's see if this is finally over."

Hand in hand, they entered the TARDIS. The door closed silently behind them.


	32. Circle Closing

**oOo**

"Well, well, who have we here?"

Noni looked up, startled, then smiled at the sight of the Doctor leaning against the low wall that meandered through the garden. "Doctor! Welcome back. I thought you were still on the TARDIS?"

The Doctor moved forward to peer down at the baby, a reminiscent smile on his face. She was beautiful, exactly as he remembered her, dark hair curling softly, large brown eyes studying him as intently as he studied her. How could he possibly have forgotten how beautiful she was, how tiny and fragile looking?

When Noni's words penetrated, he frowned abstractedly without looking up, still pondering the fact that he did, indeed, remember seeing Susan as an infant, looking exactly like this. It seemed the gaps in his memory were closing, and he wasn't sure why. "No, I came straight here." He scrubbed a hand across his face, and Noni realized he looked tired. Thinner, too. "I ran into yet another dead end in my research, and rather than subject myself to immediate disappointment, I decided to take a breather and return to see how Ace and Susan were doing."

"Ace calls her Patience," Noni corrected absently, her forehead wrinkled in confusion that had nothing to do with the baby's name. "But the note said you had good news?"

The Doctor froze, then very gently took his hand away from the blanket he'd been about to tuck more firmly around his granddaughter. He straightened, then turned to face Noni, giving her his undivided attention. "Note? What note?"

"Kyris had a note, he said it was from you," she began uncertainly, then stopped as the Doctor stiffened, his face hardening into a cold mask.

"Where did it tell him to go?" His voice remained mild, belying the harshness of his aspect, and Noni realized he was keeping his voice under control for her sake. Or, more likely, so he wouldn't frighten the baby.

"He and Ace, they went to where you left your TARDIS the last time you were here," she replied, her face pale, eyes widened in alarm. "Doctor, what's going on?"

"Get the baby into the house," he replied tersely as he moved away from her at a rapid pace. His last words were thrown over his shoulder as he continued, almost running toward the road. "Contact your parents, tell them to meet me at the Contemplation Colonnade. Then alert the city guard, warn them that there's an intruder. Hurry!" He vanished around a corner, and Noni hastened to obey.

**oOo**

The Doctor entered the colonnade cautiously. It wasn't large, at least by Gallifreyan standards, but still large enough to hide, oh, the proverbial small army. As its name indicated, it was a place of meditation, with comfortable benches tucked away here and there among the multi-hued columns, but located on the outskirts of the city and therefore less frequented than other such spots. Which was why he'd chosen it as a materialization site in the first place.

It stood empty today, as far as the Doctor could tell. Empty of life and empty of anything resembling a TARDIS. Of course, the Master's chameleon circuit worked perfectly, so it could be disguised as one of the columns.. No, this was a trap, he already knew it. It was just a matter of finding a way to spring it to his own advantage.

He'd got that far in his reasoning when a voice--unpleasant, but not unexpected--rang out. "Hallo, Doctor, surprised to see me?"

The Doctor's face hardened as the Master stepped into view from behind a nearby column. A black one. "Never surprised. Always displeased. What have you done with Ace and Kyris?"

The Master made a brushing motion with one hand. "What, no demands to know how I managed to arrive on Gallifrey undetected?" He made a "tching" noise and shook his head in mock sorrow. "You're sadly off your game, old friend."

"I am not your friend," the Doctor ground out. "Answer the question."

"Not to worry, Doctor, they're quite safe. I have them tucked away on my TARDIS."

The Doctor glanced around pointedly. "Which is where?"

"Which is no longer on Gallifrey." The Master smirked. "I've developed a new remote recall system." He tapped the side of his head. "Telepathic control from outside the TARDIS. It will revolutionize the Gallifreyan way of life. For a price, of course."

"You mean besides the price someone else already paid when you stole this ability or technology from them?" The Doctor's voice was rigid with anger.

"As you will." The Master inclined his head. Before he could continue, however, there came the muffled wail of an infant from somewhere off to the side, hidden from view but sounding close.

The Doctor barely breathed as he stared at his enemy. Who stared right back, unblinking, a smile hovering about his lips. "He knows you're there, no need to keep the brat quiet." The Master gestured the Doctor forward. "Would you care to view my latest acquisitions?"

Unwillingly, the Doctor moved forward as the Master backed up, keeping the distance between them constant. He nodded encouragingly, and the Doctor turned his head, just enough to see exactly the sight he'd feared from the instant that tiny noise caught his attention.

The pram stood next to a bench, to which Noni was chained by one wrist. A bruise darkened one cheek, blood dripped from a gash on her forehead, and she held a squirming Susan in her arms.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, he was already in the house." Noni's voice was steady, but the Doctor could see her lips trembling. "He forced me to bring Patience." Fortunately the other children had still been at school, even Mia. Only she had fallen for an obvious trap. Her mother was bound to be disappointed.

"Why didn't you take the baby when you took her parents?" It was an obvious question, one that had been troubling the Doctor since he'd seen his granddaughter at the house. Why not take all three and vanish?

The Master surprised him by answering. "When a man has lost everything, he is more desperate than when he is left with even the smallest shred of hope. I left you that shred as a distraction."

"And you'd already sent your TARDIS away," the Doctor guessed shrewdly.

"As you will." The Master shrugged. "Shall we continue with the next stage of our negotiations? The threats, the promises?" His voice carried a deeper mockery than usual.

"Right, time to barter for their lives," the Doctor's voice was strained. He moved toward the Master, flexing his hands. "So tell me. What would you like in trade?"

The Master brought his hidden hand forward; the Doctor had been so distracted that he hadn't even noticed the way the Master stood, one hand casually behind his back. A classic pose for someone hiding a gun. As, of course, his enemy was. A pistol-sized weapon, suitably dark and nasty looking. Just like its owner.

"A trade, Doctor?" The Master's smile had bloomed into laughter. "For what? I hold all the cards this time. Make no mistake, you have nothing I want in exchange for their lives." A chill went over the Doctor as the Master paused consideringly. "I take that back. I might consider trading for Romana's disk, if it hasn't actually been destroyed? No?" The Doctor shook his head. "A pity. What else have you to offer, your pathetic self?" He laughed, an ugly, gloating sound. "I intend to leave you with nothing, Doctor, not even your life."

"How very...unoriginal," was the Doctor's only comment as Noni struggled furiously with her bonds, subsiding only when Susan began to fuss in protest of her rough handling.

The Master's lips thinned at the dismissive tone in the other Time Lord's voice. "But what shall I do with my prisoners after you are gone?" he mused. He looked directly at Noni, who froze under that baleful stare but met his eyes defiantly. "Perhaps I'll raise Patience as my own, eh?" Noni flushed with a combination of rage and humiliation as he ran a clinical eye over her body. "Or perhaps I'll simply raise your child to be a servant to my own. Perhaps seeing your domestic circumstances has awoken a longing for family in my own breast." His tone was mocking. "She's young enough to give me as many heirs as I might want, don't you think? And lovely enough to make it a pleasure rather than a chore to break her to my bed."

"Or I will kill you."

The Master only had time to half-turn, the gun poised and ready to fire, before Leela stepped out from behind a blue column several meters away. But close enough to hear; more than close enough to hear his last few threats. She reacted without thinking, without planning, as impulsively as she'd ever acted in her youth; before the words were fully out of her mouth, the knife was in her hand. Before the Master could do anything, the knife was gone, flying through the air. Landing exactly where she'd aimed even as the Doctor and Noni shouted for her to stop, to wait.

The Doctor's face whitened as the knife flew out of her hand, spinning end over end until it reached its target. With a loud "THOCK" the blade embedded itself in the Master's forehead. He pitched to the marble floor without a sound. Dead.

Leela ran to her sobbing daughter as the Doctor sagged against the column, his face a mask of horror. After freeing Noni and checking the baby quickly for signs of damage (and finding none), Leela looked back at her former traveling companion. "He threatened my daughter and your granddaughter, he would have killed us; do not tell me you grieve for him!" Her voice was hard, unforgiving, but her hands were gentle as they traced the injuries to Noni's face and head.

The Doctor raised his eyes from the Master's lifeless form to meet Leela's stony gaze. "He was the only one who knew where Ace and Kyris are," he whispered. Leela's eyes widened in horror as the baby, as if sensing their despair, began to cry.


	33. Circle Closed

**oOo**

"Where are you taking her?" Noni's voice was distraught as she trotted after the Doctor. They were in the garden; he'd moved his TARDIS closer in order to bring Ace and the baby's belongings on board. Noni had assisted, reluctantly, arguing with the Doctor the entire time. Trying to get him to change his mind. Her mother knew better; she recognized the stubborn glint in his eye, the set of his chin, and wisely kept her opinion to herself. She did not, however, stop her daughter from making her own opinion quite clear.

The Doctor held Patience, Susan, protectively, but moved with grim purpose. "I'm taking her where I took her before. To my first self. As I recall, I did an adequate job of raising her."

"Why can't she stay here, with us?" Noni persisted. "I'll watch her, I'll keep her safe, I promise, Doctor, please!" Her voice was desperate now. "I know I let you down but it won't happen again, not now that the Master's dead!"

The Doctor stopped, but didn't look back. "You didn't let me down, Noni. The only one to blame for this mess is me." He started walking again.

"The Doctor is doing as he feels is best," Andred said gently, taking his daughter's hand.

"But I'll never see her again!" she wailed.

"Noni, enough!" Leela's voice was sharp enough to cut through steel. "The decision has been made. You will honor it!"

Noni stopped pushing at her father's hand and bowed her head. But they all heard the muffled sobs, and her parents exchanged uncertain looks over her head. Suddenly she pulled away and ran into the house. Leela and Andred let her go, then hastened to catch up to the Doctor. Noni would have to wait until they could give her their undivided attention. Until she calmed down enough to listen to reason.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Leela asked, contradicting herself now that her daughter was out of earshot. "Noni is right; we would be honored to protect your granddaughter. Keep her here, with us, until you return." Andred nodded.

The Doctor shook his head. "No." His voice was bitter. "I must have brought her to my first self to raise before, and so I shall do again. Everything I've done, everything that has happened since I met my son has driven us closer to that point in time. Nothing we've tried has changed anything. I am therefore bowing to the inevitable."

"It is not like you to simply give up." Leela's voice was as sharp as it had been with her daughter.

The Doctor turned to face them, stopping abruptly and cradling Susan against his shoulder, where she mouthed his jacket fabric contentedly. "I'm not giving up," he retorted. "I'm doing what I think is best for Susan. If I left her here with you, something else would happen to force me to take her to my first self. I'm convinced of that. Some old enemy would threaten her, the Rani, perhaps? Or another invasion of Gallifrey would take place, we've made enough enemies through the millennia for that possibility to occur ten times over." He took a shaky breath. "Susan belongs with my first self, and I can sense the cosmic forces gathering against me the longer I delay that inevitability."

"You were never humble about your place in the universe, Doctor. It is good to see that some things have not changed," Leela noted dryly, while Andred coughed into one hand to hide a smile at his wife's usual forthrightness.

The Doctor shook his head, his own smile fighting to make itself seen before faltering under the weight of his grim mood. "I don't believe the universe is conspiring against me, not like a sentient enemy, Leela. I simply believe that sometimes, what has happened in the past is what is meant to happen, even if it is caused by events in the present. This is one of those times. I will be free to search for Kyris and Ace once I know Susan is where she belongs. I know she _will_ be safe because she _was_."

"But are you sure?" Andred put in. He'd been content to let his wife make the arguments, as the one who knew the Doctor best, but she wasn't making any headway. "Ace named this little one 'Patience,' not Susan. Perhaps--"

The Doctor stopped again, leaning his head just enough to kiss the fuzzy curls. "There's no 'perhaps,' Andred. This is Susan. I remember how she looked, the first time I handed her to myself."

"I thought your memories of those times were gone!" Leela protested. "What if you are seeing what you wish to see?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. When the Master died, I was as staggered by the return of my memories as I was by his death. Now I understand that my desire in suppressing those memories was as much to keep myself from knowing how he died as it was to protect Susan from him. To keep me from trying to change things about the life I would lead after I was given Susan to raise. To bring me exactly to this point."

He stopped, and Andred realized with a start that they were in front of the TARDIS. The Doctor gave the machine a fond pat as he pushed the door open. "This is where Susan was meant to be raised, to live her life until it was time for her to find one that suited her better. She's happy, she's safe, and this is the only way I can ensure that she reaches that happiness and safety. She was conceived on the TARDIS, which afforded her a type of protection I called Temporal Grace, for lack of a better way to phrase it. Spending as much time on the TARDIS as she will keeps that protection strong."

Leela and Andred favored him with identical uncomprehending stares, and he sighed. "This is how it is meant to be, and how I intend it to be. Please, just accept that."

Slowly, they nodded, and Leela stepped forward for a tender embrace, kissing Susan on her head before stepping back to her husband's side. "Thank you, my friends," the Doctor said softly. "I'll return when I've found Kyris and Ace, you have my word on that." He stepped into the TARDIS, closing the door softly behind him.

They watched as the TARDIS faded from view. When the clamor of dematerialization faded, Leela spoke, her eyes still fixed on the spot where the TARDIS had just stood. "He will not find them as quickly as he pretends to believe."

Andred shook his head. "No. But he won't give up, either." He tried an encouraging smile. "Plus he has his, er 'tracking device,'" he added, unwilling even now to mention Romana's invention by name. Not out of superstition, but because one never knew when one was being eavesdropped on. Outside of one's home, of course.

Leela turned to him with a frown. "He did not mention using it to search for them."

Andred's expression became uncertain. "Perhaps he was just being cautious."

Leela shook her head. "No. It is more than that. He told Noni he had run into a 'dead end' in his research. And he told Kyris he was searching for someone to assist him in modifying the device to find the Master. What," she asked slowly, "if something has happened to it?"

Before Andred could answer, Anji ran up to them. "Mother! Father!" She was waving a piece of paper, an anachronism Leela insisted the children use when first working out their lessons. "Noni left this note, it says she's gone!"

Andred plucked the note out of Anji's hand before his wife could. Their second oldest stood, gasping for breath and staring at them wide-eyed with a mixture of fear and excitement. "Is it true? Did she go with the Doctor?"

Her mother stared at the note, then over at the spot the TARDIS had so recently occupied. Had the door been open, or had the Doctor opened it? She couldn't remember. "If that is what the note says, then that is where she is," she finally replied while Andred cursed and muttered threats about contacting the Council and demanding the Doctor's return. Leela knew, however, that he would do no such thing. And neither would she. "She will help him," was all she did say, catching Andred's hand in her own, calming him with a single touch, as she'd always been able to do. She held her free hand out to Anji, who clung to it ferociously.

Eyes skyward, Anji's wistful tone spoke for all of them: "I wish I could have gone, too."

**Epilogue**

The Doctor lay on the floor of the TARDIS, head under the console, sonic screwdriver in hand as he dismantled the tracking device he'd cobbled together. It had been built in haste, modified in even more haste, and only led them where the Master wanted them to be. Taking it apart would help pass the time until they arrived at their destination: his past, and Susan's future.

He spared a moment to glance over at her, to reassure himself of her presence. She lay sleeping in a small cradle near the interior door, within easy reach if necessary. He found it impossible to let her out of his sight. Soon enough she would be gone, but for now, he wanted her nearby. "You've got a few years on you before you can help out by handing me tools," he murmured, smiling fondly before returning to his work.

No, the tracking device was no longer of any use, if it ever had been. There was still a feeling of urgency, but he recognized its falseness. He had no illusions as to how long it would take him to find Kyris and Ace. And that knowledge meant he also knew he had more than enough time to build an improved version of his tinkered-together contraption. "Two minds are better than one," he murmured to himself as another component clattered to the floor. "Especially when they're both mine."

He raised himself on one elbow, listening with a faint smile as Susan continued to sleep, undisturbed by his noisy actions. "You can come out now," he called out in a normal tone of voice, settling back onto his side to get at a particularly tricky connection. "If I was going to send you home, young lady, believe me, you'd be there already."

The interior door opened slowly, and Noni poked her head around the corner. "How did you know I was there?" she asked as she stepped into the Console Room. She glanced down at Susan and allowed a brief, satisfied smile to cross her face.

"I didn't leave the door unlocked, and the only way anyone could open it was if they had a key. Ace's key was with her belongings when I packed them, and it was missing when I put them in her room on the TARDIS," the Doctor replied. Which he'd done soon after finding the cradle for Susan.

"You're not angry?" Noni ventured, squatting down next to the Doctor's tool kit.

He shook his head and grunted as the bolt he was attempting to remove stuck fast. "Could you hand me that?" He pointed without looking, and Noni picked up the exotic-looking tool he'd requested, placing it delicately in his hand. He grunted again, this time in appreciation, then returned to work. "Your parents know where you are, I presume?"

"I left them a note," Noni hastened to assure him. He glanced over at her, suppressing a smile. She was wearing an outfit similar to the ones her mother had worn on the TARDIS, but with a more practical--or modest--turn. Her sturdy leather trousers were tucked into equally sturdy-looking leather boots, both a deep brown. The matching vest boasted a similar neckline to the ones her mother had always favored, toned down by the fact that it was worn over a blouse with long sleeves. There were daggers tucked into both boot-tops and one on her hip as well.

The Doctor nodded at the largest dagger. "Can you throw those as well as your mother?"

"Better," she boasted, then blushed.

The Doctor felt another smile tugging at his lips. "Of course," he murmured. Then, in a louder voice: "After you're done helping me, you can take care of Susan. I'm sure it'll be a comfort to her to have a familiar face around, at least until we take her to my first self."

Noni smiled in relief. "Yes, Doctor."

He returned to work, the smile fading as he struggled anew with the recalcitrant bolt. A frown dug furrows between his eyebrows. It wouldn't hurt to take Noni to see his first self; he didn't specifically remember anyone else being there, but all the memories hadn't fully returned just yet, so he refused to worry about it. After everything was settled with Susan, he'd take Noni back home again. After all, she'd gone to a lot of trouble to sneak herself on board.

The frown deepened. Dropping Noni back on Gallifrey would be the easy part. Not only was he going to be asking his first self to take on an enormous responsibility, but he was going to ask him to help figure out another way to locate Ace and Kyris. He'd need all the help he could get.

Especially since he'd managed to destroy the data retriever Romana had so painstakingly built for him.

**oOo**

Ace's eyes fluttered open. Blearily, she saw the base of a TARDIS console, with Kyris lying motionless next to it. Motionless, but still breathing, she noted, her thoughts fuzzy, unfocused. What had happened to her, to them? She struggled up on one elbow, stretching her hand toward the Doctor's son, then collapsed back to the floor as a wave of dizziness surged over her. Her head ached, she realized dimly. Someone must have hit her.

A sharp tapping sound caught her attention, the rat-a-tat-tat of heels against a floor. The sound came closer, closer, until it stopped, and she realized hazily that the feet were right in front of her. A woman's feet, in black heels. Then a woman's voice, nasal Australian tones hammering Ace's ears almost as sharply as the shoes had: "Who the bloody hell are you? And what did you do with the Master?"

Then, mercifully, darkness.

The End

(For Now)


End file.
